5 Best Defensive Stocks Under $50

4. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 40

Share Price as of August 23: $37.42

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) operates as a pharmacy-led health and beauty retail company. The company sells prescription drugs and an assortment of retail products, including health, wellness, beauty, personal care, consumable, and general merchandise products through its retail drugstores. On July 5, RBC Capital analyst Ben Hendrix revised his price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) to $42 from $46 and reiterated a ‘Sector Perform’ rating on the shares.

On July 13, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.48 per share, up 0.5% from its prior dividend of $0.48 per share. The dividend is payable on September 9, to investors of record at the close of business on August 19. As of August 23, the stock is trading at a P/E ratio of 6.34x and has a forward dividend yield of 5.15%, which the company backs with free cash flows of $3.43 billion.

At the close of Q2 2022, 40 hedge funds were long Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) with stakes worth $599 million. This is compared to 38 positions in the preceding quarter with stakes worth $737 million. In the second quarter of 2022, Camber Capital Management raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 18% to over 2.82 million shares, making it the most prominent shareholder in the company.