Walgreens Boots Alliance Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:WBA)

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 168,529 call options on the company. This is an increase of 172% compared to the typical volume of 61,987 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $385,258,000 after buying an additional 6,569,223 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $98,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,329,857 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 12.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 7,594,475 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $68,046,000 after purchasing an additional 817,762 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,955,880 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $62,325,000 after purchasing an additional 934,754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,258,919 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $29,200,000 after buying an additional 80,525 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WBA shares. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.58.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 22.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ WBA traded up $2.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $11.29. The company had a trading volume of 54,657,105 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,117,736. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $9.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a one year low of $8.08 and a one year high of $24.93. The stock has a market cap of $9.75 billion, a PE ratio of -1.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.64.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.40 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.85% and a positive return on equity of 14.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.86%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is -9.99%.

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.