Toroso Investments LLC Lowers Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Toroso Investments LLC reduced its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA – Get Rating) by 16.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,372 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 13,388 shares during the quarter. Toroso Investments LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $2,084,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,574,698 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,964,845,000 after purchasing an additional 818,403 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 58,812,727 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,846,720,000 after acquiring an additional 540,474 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 53,374,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,675,950,000 after acquiring an additional 3,095,684 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,635,840 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $239,764,000 after acquiring an additional 224,891 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 5,894,482 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $185,087,000 after acquiring an additional 549,167 shares during the period. 56.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cowen upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 22nd. Cowen upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 22nd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $39.00 to $37.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.43.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WBA opened at $33.41 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $35.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.47. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.39 and a twelve month high of $48.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 5th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.01. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 13.57% and a negative net margin of 2.24%. The firm had revenue of $33.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 16th were given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 15th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.75%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is -55.81%.

About Walgreens Boots Alliance

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Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc engages in the provision of healthcare and retail pharmacy services. It operates through the following segments: United States Retail Pharmacy, International, and United States Healthcare. The US Retail Pharmacy segment includes the operation of retail drugstores, health and wellness services, specialty and home delivery pharmacy services, and equity method investment.