Insider Buying: Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Director Acquires 3,000 Shares of Stock

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $18.05 per share, for a total transaction of $54,150.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,150. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ WBA opened at $17.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $15.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.52, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.02. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.53 and a 52 week high of $36.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.16 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WBA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 10,962,030 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,448,648 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $481,694,000 after acquiring an additional 4,163,317 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of 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 period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on WBA shares. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Leerink Partnrs reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, HSBC reaffirmed a “reduce” rating and set a $20.00 target price (down previously from $27.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.36.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Company Profile

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.