Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Walgreens Boots Alliance Call Options (NASDAQ:WBA)

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors purchased 113,517 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 87% compared to the typical daily volume of 60,683 call options.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

Shares of WBA opened at $9.06 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $10.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.65. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a twelve month low of $8.22 and a twelve month high of $27.05. The firm has a market cap of $7.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.34, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.70.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.05). Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. The company had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 2.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.04%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently -14.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 162.5% in the 2nd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 87.0% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,324 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,081 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC boosted 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Four 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.73.

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.