California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 11,784 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

California State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA – Get Rating) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,253,019 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 11,784 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $39,345,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WBA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,574,698 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,964,845,000 after buying an additional 818,403 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its position 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 valued at $1,846,720,000 after acquiring an additional 540,474 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 53,374,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,675,950,000 after purchasing an additional 3,095,684 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 3.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 224,891 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.3% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 5,894,482 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $185,087,000 after purchasing an additional 549,167 shares in the last quarter. 56.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Cowen raised Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $43.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 22nd. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Credit Suisse Group reduced their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $42.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 6th. Loop Capital initiated coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance to $40.00 in a report on Monday, November 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.43.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

NASDAQ WBA opened at $32.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.39 and a 1-year high of $48.62. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.38 billion, a PE ratio of -9.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 16th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 15th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend 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.