Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,683,147 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 35,512 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $24,041,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WBA. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% in 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 raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 98.8% in the second quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,021,126 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $72,826,000 after buying an additional 2,992,648 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.1% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,718,659 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $32,882,000 after buying an additional 156,484 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,028,000. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.8% during the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 2,038,878 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $24,660,000 after buying an additional 198,891 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WBA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays upped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 3.7 %

NASDAQ WBA opened at $8.48 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.33 billion, a PE ratio of -0.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.69. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a one year low of $8.22 and a one year high of $27.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.68.

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently -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.