Pitcairn Co. Invests $159,000 in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Pitcairn Co. purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 17,714 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $159,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 162.5% during the second quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 87.0% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,324 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,081 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 71.2% during the second quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares in the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ WBA opened at $9.06 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $9.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.37. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.08 and a 1-year high of $27.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -0.91, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.69.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 14.23% and a negative net margin of 5.85%. The company had revenue of $37.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.04%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is -9.99%.

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.