Vontobel Holding Ltd. Purchases 32,286 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 139,236 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,286 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,248,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WBA. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $630,334,000 after buying an additional 10,612,373 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 98.8% during the second quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,021,126 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $72,826,000 after purchasing an additional 2,992,648 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the second quarter worth $31,028,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the first quarter valued at $16,365,000. Finally, Minneapolis Portfolio Management Group LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 1st quarter worth $13,710,000. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $10.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.31 billion, a PE ratio of -1.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.70. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.22 and a 52 week high of $27.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $9.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.10. 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 (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 3.99% and a positive return on equity of 12.63%. The business had revenue of $37.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WBA shares. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of 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 decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.38.

Walgreens Boots Alliance 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.