Guggenheim Capital LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Guggenheim Capital LLC cut its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 208,286 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 16,866 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,943,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,241,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 32,572,567 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $303,902,000 after acquiring an additional 2,631,332 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,335,084 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $805,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,279,495 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,155,138 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $122,737,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 70.3% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,455,720 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $41,082,000 after purchasing an additional 1,839,045 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com started coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of WBA opened at $10.89 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.06, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50-day moving average of $10.85 and a 200 day moving average of $10.15. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.08 and a 1-year high of $18.83.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $38.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.90 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance 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.