Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Down 3.3%

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) shares dropped 3.3% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $11.42 and last traded at $11.42. Approximately 3,310,681 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 15,650,826 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.81.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on WBA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $30.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Barclays dropped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $11.00 target price (down from $22.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Friday, June 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.86.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 2.8 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $13.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.87.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.05). Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. The company had revenue of $36.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -14.84%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WBA. Capital World Investors increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $630,334,000 after purchasing an additional 10,612,373 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter valued at $29,816,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1,985.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 889,546 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $23,226,000 after acquiring an additional 846,884 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the first quarter worth $16,365,000. Finally, Minneapolis Portfolio Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the first quarter valued at $13,710,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% 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.