Short Interest in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Declines By 19.9%

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) saw a significant drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 77,330,000 shares, a drop of 19.9% from the December 15th total of 96,530,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 24,700,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days. Approximately 10.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on WBA shares. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $10.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.27.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $98,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,329,857 shares during the last quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 76.6% in the third quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 440,483 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,947,000 after buying an additional 190,996 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 340,431 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,050,000 after acquiring an additional 64,586 shares during the period. Sasco Capital Inc. CT increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sasco Capital Inc. CT now owns 1,041,440 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $9,331,000 after acquiring an additional 124,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 82.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 139,377 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,249,000 after acquiring an additional 63,149 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 3.2 %

NASDAQ WBA opened at $12.93 on Friday. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $23.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $9.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.26, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.64.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.85% and a positive return on equity of 14.23%. The company had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.73%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -9.77%.

About Walgreens Boots Alliance

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc operates as a healthcare, pharmacy, and retail company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It operates through three segments: U.S. Retail Pharmacy, International, and U.S. Healthcare. The U.S. Retail Pharmacy segment engages in operation of the retail drugstores, health and wellness services, specialty, and home delivery pharmacy services, which offers health and wellness, beauty, personal care and consumables, and general merchandise.