Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stock Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 8.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 62,291 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,734 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $753,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 35,763 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 4,039 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 68.0% in the second quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,892 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 8,048 shares during the last quarter. Skylands Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 223.0% during the 2nd quarter. Skylands Capital LLC now owns 124,350 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,505,000 after buying an additional 85,850 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 344.7% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 157,898 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,910,000 after buying an additional 122,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 261,200 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,159,000 after acquiring an additional 10,100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on WBA. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of 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. 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 research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $30.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.85.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

NASDAQ:WBA traded down $0.13 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $9.25. 24,691,827 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,791,425. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.03 and a 52 week high of $27.05. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.23. 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 cap of $7.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.72.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.94 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 3.99% and a positive return on equity of 12.63%. The business’s revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is currently -14.84%.

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.