Prospera Private Wealth LLC Acquires New Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 35,969 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $322,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $630,334,000 after acquiring an additional 10,612,373 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 98.8% in the 2nd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,021,126 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $72,826,000 after acquiring an additional 2,992,648 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,718,659 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $32,882,000 after acquiring an additional 156,484 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,028,000. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 2,038,878 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $24,660,000 after buying an additional 198,891 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on WBA shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

WBA stock opened at $8.24 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.37. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.11 and a 1-year high of $27.05. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.67.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.85% and a positive return on equity of 14.23%. The firm had revenue of $37.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -9.99%.

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.