Stephens Inc. AR Has $1.48 Million Stock Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Stephens Inc. AR lessened its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA – Get Rating) by 40.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,544 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 27,393 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 13.6% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 513,659 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $16,245,000 after buying an additional 61,456 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.4% in the third quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 187,700 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $5,894,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Pflug Koory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.3% in the third quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 19,346 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 3.3% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 413,087 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $12,970,000 after acquiring an additional 13,187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 7.2% in the third quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund now owns 101,498 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,187,000 after acquiring an additional 6,802 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WBA. Mizuho increased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 14th. Cowen upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $43.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 22nd. Cowen upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $43.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 6th. Finally, Loop Capital began coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.43.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

Shares of WBA traded down $0.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $32.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 17,224,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,899,232. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.39 and a 1-year high of $48.62. The stock has a market cap of $28.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.57, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 5th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.04 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 13.57% and a negative net margin of 2.24%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 16th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 15th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.83%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is currently -55.81%.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Company Profile

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Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc engages in the provision of healthcare and retail pharmacy services. It operates through the following segments: United States Retail Pharmacy, International, and United States Healthcare. The US Retail Pharmacy segment includes the operation of retail drugstores, health and wellness services, specialty and home delivery pharmacy services, and equity method investment.