Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the pharmacy operator on Wednesday, June 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.65%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 20th.

Walgreens Boots Alliance has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.3% annually over the last three years. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a payout ratio of 31.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Walgreens Boots Alliance to earn $3.13 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.9%.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:WBA opened at $17.70 on Friday. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a fifty-two week low of $17.49 and a fifty-two week high of $35.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.27 billion, a PE ratio of -2.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.73. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.77.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.38. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.11% and a negative net margin of 4.18%. The business had revenue of $37.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.16 EPS. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, HSBC reiterated a “reduce” rating and set a $20.00 price objective (down previously from $27.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari purchased 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,150. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari bought 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,150. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Valerie B. Jarrett bought 4,456 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $22.44 per share, with a total value of $99,992.64. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99,992.64. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 13,456 shares of company stock valued at $270,423. Company insiders own 17.40% 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.