Nilsine Partners LLC Lowers Stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Nilsine Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 4.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,625 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 652 shares during the period. Nilsine Partners LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $296,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WBA. Dark Forest Capital Management LP boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 29,409 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $654,000 after buying an additional 1,804 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 36.2% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,170,347 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $48,269,000 after buying an additional 576,534 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 28.2% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 129,191 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,873,000 after purchasing an additional 28,400 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,444,686 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $32,130,000 after purchasing an additional 47,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,927,656,000 after purchasing an additional 10,962,030 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. HSBC reiterated a “reduce” rating and set a $20.00 price target (down from $27.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Leerink Partnrs reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.36.

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of WBA stock traded down $0.29 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $17.73. 8,249,794 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,664,933. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.73. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.68. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.49 and a twelve month high of $35.36.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $37.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.86 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 4.18% and a positive return on equity of 12.11%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

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