Howard Capital Management Inc. Has $299,000 Stock Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 29.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,020 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,214 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 4,757 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Corp IN boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,685 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 885 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 25,215 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $226,000 after acquiring an additional 1,063 shares during the last quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. now owns 264,644 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,371,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 12,893 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $120,000 after buying an additional 1,084 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WBA. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.63.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 5.2 %

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $11.38 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.11, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.08 and a 12-month high of $22.05. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $10.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.70.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The company had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.