Red Spruce Capital LLC Has $1.03 Million Stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Red Spruce Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 78.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 36,093 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,902 shares during the quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,028,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WBA. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 84,503.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,325,830 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $311,053,000 after acquiring an additional 8,315,989 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 63,406,129 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,192,584,000 after purchasing an additional 2,797,885 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 39.4% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 8,702,899 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $300,946,000 after buying an additional 2,459,416 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 62.4% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,159,800 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $155,410,000 after buying an additional 1,597,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,974,220 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $447,357,000 after buying an additional 1,155,331 shares during the period. 57.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 2.5 %

WBA stock traded up $0.55 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $22.45. 2,940,612 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,385,432. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a one year low of $21.39 and a one year high of $42.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company has a market cap of $19.38 billion, a PE ratio of -5.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $27.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.08.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by ($0.07). Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.62% and a negative net margin of 2.44%. The business had revenue of $35.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 12th. Investors of record on Monday, August 21st were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is presently -50.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WBA shares. Credit Suisse Group cut their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 24th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $36.00 to $29.00 in a report on Thursday, June 29th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Tuesday, September 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $46.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John Patrick Driscoll purchased 5,172 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $28.42 per share, for a total transaction of $146,988.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,678,201. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 17.50% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Profile

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc operates as a pharmacy-led health and beauty retail company. It operates through two segments, the United States and International. The United States segment sells prescription drugs and an assortment of retail products, including health, wellness, beauty, personal care, consumable, and general merchandise products through its retail drugstores.