Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Trading Up 1.7% Following Dividend Announcement

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)’s stock price rose 1.7% on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $11.67 and last traded at $11.45. Approximately 5,590,529 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 14,965,325 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.26.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.70%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is currently -14.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WBA shares. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. SVB Leerink cut their target price on 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. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $35.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.71.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 0.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.65. The business’s fifty day moving average is $15.19 and its 200-day moving average is $19.22. The firm has a market cap of $9.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.72.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.94 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.87 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $1,927,656,000 after purchasing an additional 10,962,030 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $630,334,000 after acquiring an additional 10,612,373 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,519,845 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $170,233,000 after purchasing an additional 613,847 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted 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 worth $80,349,000 after buying an additional 339,143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,249,654 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $58,738,000 after acquiring an additional 27,634 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.