Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Holdings Decreased by First Bank & Trust

First Bank & Trust trimmed its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 24.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,435 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 9,734 shares during the quarter. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $867,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Putnam Investments LLC acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 1st quarter worth $10,858,000. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter worth $233,000. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 78.0% during the 1st quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,092 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $660,000 after acquiring an additional 8,368 shares during the period. Jacobi Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 16,000 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $553,000 after acquiring an additional 1,916 shares during the period. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 36.4% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 47,696 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,649,000 after buying an additional 12,736 shares during the period. 57.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WBA. Barclays cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $38.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 28th. StockNews.com began coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $36.00 to $29.00 in a report on Thursday, June 29th. Credit Suisse Group cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 24th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ:WBA traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $22.10. 3,980,760 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,500,056. The firm has a market cap of $19.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.69. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.39 and a twelve month 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $27.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.80.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $35.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.96 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 21st were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is currently -50.00%.

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.