Diametric Capital LP Purchases New Shares in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Diametric Capital LP bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 15,010 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $140,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $385,258,000 after buying an additional 6,569,223 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the fourth quarter worth about $58,241,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter valued at about $24,226,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,335,084 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $805,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,279,495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,155,138 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $122,737,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185,950 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

WBA opened at $11.18 on Thursday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.08 and a 1 year high of $19.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $10.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.95. The firm has a market cap of $9.66 billion, a PE ratio of -1.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.59.

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.