Royal Bank of Canada Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Stock Price

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) had its target price decreased by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $13.00 to $9.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 1.35% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Barclays boosted their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.58.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of WBA stock traded down $0.07 on Wednesday, reaching $8.88. 6,100,174 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,436,109. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $27.05. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.68 billion, a PE ratio of -0.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WBA. Inlet Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Inlet Private Wealth LLC now owns 47,820 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $578,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc now owns 15,340 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 71.2% during the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.6% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 65,690 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.4% in the third 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 period. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.