National Bank of Canada FI Lowers Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

National Bank of Canada FI trimmed its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 29.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 270,760 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 112,456 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $2,526,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter worth approximately $133,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 35.5% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,275,221 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $11,898,000 after buying an additional 334,235 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 204,979 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,912,000 after buying an additional 11,453 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 56,554 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 13,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter worth about $498,000. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

NASDAQ:WBA opened at $10.71 on Tuesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $19.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $10.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.00. The company has a market capitalization of $9.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.67. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.40 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance 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.