Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC Has $15.40 Million Stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 1,568.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,650,377 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,551,457 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $15,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WBA. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 595,828 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $5,559,000 after purchasing an additional 185,762 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter valued at $326,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2,599.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 622,703 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $5,810,000 after purchasing an additional 599,637 shares during the period. Orca Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the fourth quarter worth $322,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 507,213 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $4,732,000 after purchasing an additional 23,373 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 0.4 %

WBA stock opened at $10.93 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $9.45 billion, a PE ratio of -1.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.24. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $18.83. 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 (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $38.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.90 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on WBA. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective 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. Wolfe Research raised shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Chairman Stefano Pessina bought 832,258 shares of the stock in a transaction on Sunday, April 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $11.01 per share, with a total value of $9,163,160.58. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now owns 145,621,079 shares in the company, valued at $1,603,288,079.79. The trade was a 0.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 17.50% of the company’s stock.

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.