Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 645,206 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Prudential Financial Inc. lessened its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 61.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 404,014 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 645,206 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $3,769,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $385,258,000 after acquiring an additional 6,569,223 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 3rd quarter valued at about $24,226,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,335,084 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $805,506,000 after buying an additional 2,279,495 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,155,138 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $122,737,000 after buying an additional 2,185,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 70.3% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,455,720 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $41,082,000 after buying an additional 1,839,045 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WBA shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $11.16 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $9.64 billion, a PE ratio of -1.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a 50 day moving average of $10.80 and a 200 day moving average of $9.95. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $19.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The firm had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Company Profile

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.