Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. Purchases New Stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 10,236 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 purchasing an additional 10,962,030 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 29.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,448,648 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $481,694,000 after acquiring an additional 4,163,317 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,026,420 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $378,668,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013,807 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,584,371 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $279,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,720,228 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter valued at $29,816,000. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Manmohan Mahajan bought 6,000 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $19.38 per share, for a total transaction of $116,280.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 166,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,235,859.22. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $18.05 per share, for a total transaction of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,150. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Manmohan Mahajan purchased 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $19.38 per share, for a total transaction of $116,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 166,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,235,859.22. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 17.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WBA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and issued a $20.00 price target (down from $27.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Barclays started coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set an “underweight” rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. 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 issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.36.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

NASDAQ:WBA traded down $0.29 on Tuesday, reaching $17.73. 8,249,794 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,664,933. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.49 and a 12 month high of $35.36. The firm has a market cap of $15.30 billion, a PE ratio of -2.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.73.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.38. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 4.18% and a positive return on equity of 12.11%. The firm had revenue of $37.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.86 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 20th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.64%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is -14.29%.

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.