Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Purchased by Disciplined Equity Management Inc.

Disciplined Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,653 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,430 shares during the quarter. Walgreens Boots Alliance makes up 0.9% of Disciplined Equity Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Disciplined Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,323,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dark Forest Capital Management LP boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.5% during the third quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 29,409 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $654,000 after purchasing an additional 1,804 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 36.2% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,170,347 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $48,269,000 after acquiring an additional 576,534 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 28.2% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 129,191 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,873,000 after acquiring an additional 28,400 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 3.4% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,444,686 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $32,130,000 after acquiring an additional 47,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,927,656,000 after acquiring an additional 10,962,030 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WBA. Barclays began coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $21.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partnrs restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Monday, February 26th. SVB Leerink decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 18th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,150. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,150. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Valerie B. Jarrett acquired 4,456 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $22.44 per share, with a total value of $99,992.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,992.64. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 13,456 shares of company stock valued at $270,423 over the last quarter. 17.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 1.3 %

WBA stock traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $17.81. 10,258,674 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,984,583. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.36 billion, a PE ratio of -2.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.73. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.51 and a 1-year high of $35.54.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $37.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.86 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.11% and a negative net margin of 4.18%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.