Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Sold by Avaii Wealth Management LLC

Avaii Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 18.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,260 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 2,044 shares during the quarter. Avaii Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $242,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,026,420 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $378,668,000 after acquiring an additional 3,013,807 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,720,228 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,905,998 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $131,349,000 after acquiring an additional 212,161 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 3,077,336 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $80,349,000 after acquiring an additional 339,143 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WBA. SVB Leerink reduced their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. TheStreet raised shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.36.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $18.02 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.72. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.49 and a 12-month high of $35.36. 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 cap of $15.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.57, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.73.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $37.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.16 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 20th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is -14.29%.

Insider Activity

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance Company 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.