Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.38 EPS

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.38, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $37.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.86 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a return on equity of 10.48% and a net margin of 0.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.16 earnings per share. Walgreens Boots Alliance updated its FY24 guidance to $3.20-3.35 EPS.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 2.5 %

Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $21.02 on Thursday. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 52 week low of $19.68 and a 52 week high of $36.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.85, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.29.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently 151.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays assumed coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set an “underweight” rating and a $21.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partnrs reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Monday, February 26th. HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and issued a $20.00 price target (down previously from $27.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. SVB Leerink dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Director Valerie B. Jarrett purchased 4,456 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $22.44 per share, for a total transaction of $99,992.64. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 4,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,992.64. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Director Valerie B. Jarrett purchased 4,456 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $22.44 per share, for a total transaction of $99,992.64. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 4,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,992.64. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy C. Wentworth purchased 10,000 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $24.22 per share, with a total value of $242,200.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 585,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,171,654.84. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.6% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 63,406,129 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,192,584,000 after acquiring an additional 2,797,885 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,974,220 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $447,357,000 after buying an additional 1,155,331 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 84,503.5% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,325,830 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $311,053,000 after buying an additional 8,315,989 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,356,393 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $192,076,000 after buying an additional 710,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 7.5% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,132,750 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $229,794,000 after buying an additional 358,403 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

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.