M&T Bank Corp Increases Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 69.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 200,158 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 82,352 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,794,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WBA. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 162.5% during the 2nd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 87.0% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,324 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 1,081 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 71.2% during the second quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.58.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

WBA stock opened at $10.39 on Friday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.08 and a 52-week high of $27.05. The business has a fifty day moving average of $9.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.72. The stock has a market cap of $8.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.62%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is currently -9.99%.

Walgreens Boots Alliance 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.