Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (WBA)

[Afterhoursearnings3]

Amid what now? Lol I bought today, if the divi holds this is a gem

[bar1080]

Just realized WBA is touching a recent low, a terrible sign amid a generally strong economy.

[bar1080]

Both Yahoo finance and Finviz give Walgreen's current dividend yield at 9.24% which I take as a huge red flag for danger. I'm certainly not adding and I don't reinvest dividends. It's in my kids' accounts, but just a small portion. Their accounts are well diversified including several index funds, notably the red hot QQQ they've had since about 2010.

[Stock_Barber]

I have effectively the same position! DRIPs are awesome!

[Prudent Capitalist]

I have held a substantial position here for years in a tax-deferred retirement account and have always reinvested all dividends. Not happy with the current share price, but the value of the position is still way above the original $$$$$ outlay of the investment. And, currently WBA's dividend is 9.2% at the current share price.

[Stock_Barber]

I am VERY heavily loaded here, and also very optimistic for the years ahead!

Don't fight the Fed, and don't fight aging Boomer trends!

.

[Prudent Capitalist]

Hopefully WBA maintains the dividend at this level going forward. They will not want to give up that Dividend Aristocrat status, and WBA should pick up market share with RAD filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday and announcing that it will be closing a bunch more stores.

[Stock_Barber]

Same! Dividend always makes a bottom!

Where else is one going to get 9% with a company of Walgreen's caliber?

[IPO$]

Nice 9% dividend.

[Afterhoursearnings3]

Close to here imo. Grabbed a few hundred shares yesterday. Will add if drops more

[IPO$]

Where’s the bottom?

[IPO$]

Falling knife.

[Stock_Barber]

The UK.

[IPO$]

Where did the “boots” name come from?

[IPO$]

I am new to this stock. Why is it down so much this year? It looks like it has a 9% dividend yield at this price.🏈🏀⚽️

[Prudent Capitalist]

I agree, But the share price here was essentially destroyed by here predecessor, Stefano Pessina. the Boots Alliance merger was and continues to be a total disaster.

[Stock_Barber]

I'm actually happy to see her go! Part of a CEO's job is the share price! And based on that ALONE, she should have been shown the door!

What do you think about her departure?

[bar1080]

"What’s behind Walgreens CEO Roz Brewer’s abrupt departure?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/what-s-behind-walgreens-ceo-roz-brewer-s-abrupt-departure/ar-AA1ggQaL

" Abrupt exit. The supposedly sleepy Labor Day weekend began with a bang on Friday morning, when Walgreens abruptly announced that CEO Roz Brewer had stepped down and left its board, effective the day before (Aug 31).

The decision was “mutually agreed” upon by Brewer and Walgreens’s board, the company said. Brewer, who had been in the job for less than three years, used the same language in a LinkedIn post and an internal email to Walgreens employees seen by Fortune.

“This is perhaps one of the most difficult notes I have ever written over the course of my career,” Brewer wrote in both notes. Spokespeople for her and for Walgreens declined to comment further to Fortune on Friday."

"Brewer’s departure means that the most powerful Black woman running a Fortune 500 company—and one of only two Black female CEOs in the Fortune 500 at the start of last week—is out of a job, at least temporarily. (She will advise Walgreens on its search for a permanent CEO, the company said; Walgreens is paying her $9 million in severance, plus $2.25 million in consulting fees for the next six months, according to a securities filing Friday.)

"Her departure also raises questions about Walgreens’s ability to pull off the ambitious pivot towards health care that Brewer had announced six months after becoming Walgreens CEO. Like larger rival CVS, Walgreens under Brewer has been buying up primary-care clinics and trying to turn itself into a full-service health care provider. But a transformation of that magnitude takes time, and it appears to be going more slowly than both Walgreens and its investors would like: In June, the company cut its full-year earnings guidance, while executives acknowledged that they were “disappointed with the pace of our path to profitability” in its health care business.

It's also unclear how much support Brewer’s health care strategy had from Walgreens executive chairman (and former CEO and largest shareholder) Stefano Pessina. The Wall Street Journal in January reported that Pessina envisioned a slower expansion into health care, one that was “best achieved through partnerships and minority stakes," and that he said that "buying up companies outside of the core pharmacy industry unnecessarily exposed Walgreens to risk.” Spokespeople for Walgreens and Brewer did not respond to requests for comment over the weekend."

[bar1080]

They stopped being admired when the linked up with Liz Holmes and Theranos, a clue that WBA was getting desperate.

[Prudent Capitalist]

CEO Roz Brewer out ("stepped down") effective immediately. Train wreck here with WBA right now. Everything changed the day WAG closed the merger with Stefano Pessina and the European Boots Alliance. Walgreens (WAG) was one of the most admired and successful companies in America and the merger was a mistake.

[Prudent Capitalist]

Only positive here right now is WBA's 6.54% dividend. WBA did sell a chunk of Amerisource Bergen shares for $1.85 Billion.

[biotech_researcher]

Destroyed…..

[bar1080]

Like I said back in May.

"I sure don't see a buy argument with WBA. I'd never buy a stock just for an above-market dividend.

[leftovers]

Timber.... How low will it go?? WBA can't seem to get out of it's own way thses gast few quarters.

[Prudent Capitalist]

The earnings release should be interesting tomorrow am. Consensus estimate is for net profit of $1.07 per share.

[Stock_Barber]

Probably would be a good time for the company to start buying back some shares!

[bar1080]

Another good thing about WBA is It has a low beta of 0.73, so it has low movement correlation with the broad stock market.

[bar1080]

Considering how well the stock market has done over the past 11 years that's quite an indictment of WBA and drugstores in general. It's not like the ubiquitous Walgreens are unknown. I'd also worry about the real estate value of the bazillion pricey corner retail locations WBA (and CVS) acquired. I don't hate WBA stock; I just think the stock is nothing special.

"WBA: Walgreens Boots falls to lowest level in almost 11 years"

[leftovers]

I wasn't going by the dividend I was going by this:

WBA: Walgreens Boots falls to lowest level in almost 11 years

and it seems it is the time to buy!

[bar1080]

Thanks, I know about the arbitration award. I worry especially about WBA's ever-diminishing dividend increases. Last year WBA only increased the payout from $0.478 to 0.48. Based on their history we should be due for another increase soon. Will there even be an increase?

"  Date	   Dividends 
 May 18, 2023	0.48 Dividend 
 Feb 15, 2023	0.48 Dividend 
 Nov 14, 2022	0.48 Dividend 
 Aug 18, 2022	0.48 Dividend 
 May 19, 2022	0.478 Dividend 
 Feb 17, 2022	0.478 Dividend 
 Nov 12, 2021	0.478 Dividend 
 Aug 19, 2021	0.478 Dividend 
 May 20, 2021	0.468 Dividend 
 Feb 18, 2021	0.468 Dividend 
 Nov 18, 2020	0.468 Dividend 
 Aug 18, 2020	0.468 Dividend 
 May 19, 2020	0.458 Dividend 
 Feb 18, 2020	0.458 Dividend 
 Nov 15, 2019	0.458 Dividend 
 Aug 19, 2019	0.458 Dividend 
 May 17, 2019	0.44 Dividend 
 Feb 14, 2019	0.44 Dividend 
 Nov 08, 2018	0.44 Dividend 
 Aug 17, 2018	0.44 Dividend

[Prudent Capitalist]

The recent drop in WBA's share price is due to the staggering $642 Million Arbitration award to Humana. On Friday Walgreens filed a Motion in federal court to have the award vacated, calling the pricing dispute with Humana Health Plans and the resulting arbitration award a "miscarriage of justice." The basis of WBA's request to vacate the award is its position that the Arbitrator "rewrote" its contracts with Humana, and that he used a flawed model to assess and award damages. Arbitration is always subject to challenge in federal court, and Arbitrators are strictly prohibited from going beyond the bounds and precise language of the contract(s) at issue. But this was the reason for the drop in share price the past few days. WBA +2.04% today

[bar1080]

What's the story here? I sure don't see a buy argument with WBA. I'd never buy a stock just for an above-market dividend.

[leftovers]

Is it time to buy here?

Walgreens Boots Alliance hit a low of $30.15 on Monday, the stock's lowest level since July 2012.
Year to date, the stock is down ~17%. Over the last year, it is off ~27%.
Competitor Rite Aid (RAD) has also been struggling. That stock is down ~41% YTD, and ~65% over the last year. CVS Health (CVS), which operates a chain of drug stores in addition to a having a pharmacy benefit manager and health insurer Aetna under its control, is off ~25% YTD AND ~28% over the last year.

[Prudent Capitalist]

The dividend yield is the positive here of late.

[leftovers]

Walgreens Boots (NASDAQ:WBA) declares $0.48/share quarterly dividend, in line with previous.

Forward yield 5.44%

Payable June 12; for shareholders of record May 19; ex-div May 18.

[Prudent Capitalist]

Nice move up on earnings beat and strong quarterly report.

[Prudent Capitalist]

The dividend yield has always been a huge positive here with WBA.

[leftovers]

Walgreens Boots (NASDAQ:WBA) declares $0.48/share quarterly dividend, in line with previous.

Forward yield 5.26%

Payable March 10; for shareholders of record Feb. 16; ex-div Feb. 15.

[bar1080]

Nice meaty post. Agree it's odd for three board members to have zero shares. I wouldn't want to be on the board of ANYTHING with the potential legal liability that involves.

Nice to see a powerful market today. All of my stocks except one are up.

[Prudent Capitalist]

Yes. Positive development. Funny how WBA's beat the street estimates, but the shares sold down. hard to understand. The obligatory 5-year stock performance graph in the Annual report cover was sobering. The annual report is a total joke. No financial discussion or message to shareholders, or any mention of money returned to shareholders in the form of dividends and buybacks, etc. Thes reports used to be so great and filled with positive developments. Also, very disappointed to see in the Proxy statement that we will now have 3 Directors with no vested interest in the WBA, i.e. No stock ownership. One has been on the Board since 2020 and still has no stock ownership. We pay these Directors handsomely, i.e. over $300,000 per year, and the 3 with no stock will eventually get their pockets lined with shares. But there are many qualified long-time loyal shareholders who would be more suited and just as qualified to sit on the Board.

[bar1080]

Good news for a change: "Walgreens Revisits Shoplifting Security as Losses From Theft Drop"

"The nation’s second-largest U.S. pharmacy chain by locations poured money last year into additional security, some of which executives said was ineffective, and it is now considering cutting back as losses from theft have dropped significantly, finance chief James Kehoe said Thursday."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/walgreens-revisits-shoplifting-security-as-losses-from-theft-drop-11673012157

[bar1080]

Holding WBA but not adding or reinvesting the divs.

[Prudent Capitalist]

Just continuing to reinvest all of my 4.97% WBA dividends in more WBA shares down at these depressed levels under $40.

[bar1080]

Few major group have performed as well as stodgy dividend payers lately. Been watching Caterpillar, for example, but plenty of others like it are doing great. The ultra conservative DOW ETF (DIA) is up 19% since October 1, and it yields about 1.9% in ever-rising dividends.

Problem for many IHUBer is they panicked a few month ago and dumped everything, mostly around the bottom Many IHUB penny players went 100% to cash.

----
BTW, I've been adding short term T-bills for several months and getting over 4 1/2 % and 2-4 year maturity Invesco Bulletshares and getting nearly 6% yield to maturity. Very safe.

[Prudent Capitalist]

Has been a strong month here for WBA. Nice upgrade yesterday

[Prudent Capitalist]

Cowen & Co. Upgrades WBA to Outperform, Raises Price Target to $54

[Stock_Barber]

Nice!

[Prudent Capitalist]

"CVS Has Little Time to Waste as Amazon, Walgreens Ink Doctor Deals" WSJ - Heard on the Street

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cvs-has-little-time-to-waste-as-amazon-walgreens-ink-doctor-deals-11668087469

[bar1080]

Two delightful days. I was just looking over my family holdings for tax loss harvesting, but not finding much to trim. .

[Prudent Capitalist]

Walgreens upgraded to Buy from hold at Deutsche Bank. $50 Price Target now.