Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC Sells 1,362 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC trimmed its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 59,026 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 1,362 shares during the quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% during 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,448,648 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $481,694,000 after purchasing an additional 4,163,317 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.5% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,026,420 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $378,668,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013,807 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.8% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,519,845 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $170,233,000 after purchasing an additional 613,847 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WBA. SVB Leerink lowered their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 18th. HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and issued a $20.00 target price (down previously from $27.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.57.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WBA opened at $15.55 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12-month low of $14.62 and a 12-month high of $32.89. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $17.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.78.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business 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 revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.16 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 20th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is -14.29%.

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.