Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $2.92 Million in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 112,000 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $2,924,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,927,656,000 after acquiring an additional 10,962,030 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 84,503.5% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.5% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,026,420 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $378,668,000 after acquiring an additional 3,013,807 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.6% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 63,406,129 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,192,584,000 after acquiring an additional 2,797,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.8% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,584,371 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $279,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,720,228 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays assumed coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set an “underweight” rating and a $21.00 price target on the stock. Leerink Partnrs restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.36.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 1.1 %

Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $17.65 on Tuesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.53 and a 1-year high of $36.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $15.23 billion, a PE ratio of -2.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.73. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $20.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.05.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.38. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.11% and a negative net margin of 4.18%. The business had revenue of $37.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In related news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari purchased 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,150. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari purchased 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,150. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Manmohan Mahajan acquired 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $19.38 per share, for a total transaction of $116,280.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 166,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,235,859.22. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 13,456 shares of company stock worth $270,423. Corporate insiders own 17.40% of the company’s stock.

About Walgreens Boots Alliance

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.