Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Position Lowered by Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund decreased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 35.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 132,664 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 72,500 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,238,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,020 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 7,214 shares during the last quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc now owns 76,080 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $710,000 after purchasing an additional 3,458 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the fourth quarter worth about $1,250,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 17,888 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 4,347,677 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $40,564,000 after purchasing an additional 61,317 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $11.04 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $10.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.71. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $22.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.08, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.64. 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 data 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 business had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America increased 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 note on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective 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. Evercore ISI increased 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 note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.63.

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.