Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Raises Stock Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 334,030 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,427 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $3,116,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,335,084 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $805,506,000 after buying an additional 2,279,495 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 32,572,567 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $303,902,000 after buying an additional 2,631,332 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,779,254 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $194,082,000 after buying an additional 1,020,587 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,155,138 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $122,737,000 after buying an additional 2,185,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,896,742 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $83,007,000 after buying an additional 1,407,973 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WBA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.59.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other news, Chairman Stefano Pessina bought 832,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, April 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $11.01 per share, for a total transaction of $9,163,160.58. Following the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 145,621,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,603,288,079.79. This trade represents a 0.57% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 17.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

WBA opened at $11.13 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.62 billion, a PE ratio of -1.09, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.77. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.08 and a twelve month high of $18.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $11.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $38.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.90 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.