Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Bought by abrdn plc

abrdn plc lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 70.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 301,955 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 125,232 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $7,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 114,506 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,547,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 107,071 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,796,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. Insight Folios Inc lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 9,640 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 29.6% during the third quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 2,333 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 11,866 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari bought 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,150. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,150. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Valerie B. Jarrett acquired 4,456 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $22.44 per share, for a total transaction of $99,992.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,992.64. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 13,456 shares of company stock valued at $270,423 over the last quarter. 17.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on WBA shares. Leerink Partnrs restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Monday, February 26th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.36.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

Shares of WBA opened at $17.70 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.49 and a 52 week high of $35.38.

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

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.