NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 24, 2017 / Rite-Aid and Walgreens Boots Alliance are now facing yet another twist in the plot to the story of their potential and highly anticipated merger. A report released by Bloomberg on Wednesday indicated that the Federal Trade Commission might sue to block the drugstore chains from merging. Walgreens had been planning to sell up to 1,200 Rite Aid stores to Fred's Pharmacy as a part of an effort to win over FTC approval. The two stocks tumbled after traders worriedly reacted to the Bloomberg report.

RDI Initiates Coverage:

Rite Aid Corporation
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=RAD

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=WBA

Rite-Aid shares closed down 4.28% and saw their lowest levels in trading on Friday since September of 2013, hitting as low as $3.76 in intra-day trading. The drugstore chain had been spiraling down since Wednesday when a report from Bloomberg, citing the trade publication Capital Forum, revealed that the FTC may sue to block Rite-Aid from merging with Walgreens Boots Alliance. Walgreens had offered $9 per share originally for Rite Aid but had revised the agreement earlier in January to $6.50 to $7 per share. Investors had been betting heavily for months that Walgreens Boots Alliance would be able to complete its proposed acquisition of rival drugstore chain Rite Aid.

Access RDI's Rite Aid Corporation Research Report at:
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=RAD

Walgreens shares edged down on Friday, but surprisingly didn't see as negative a reaction as Rite-Aid and Fred's Pharmacy. Traders may be increasingly doubtful that the takeover will ever happen, but seemed pleased by the company's announcement from last week when Walgreens said that its board of directors had declared a regular quarterly dividend of 37.5 cents per share, an increase of 4.2 percent over the year-ago period. The dividend is payable June 12th, 2017 to stockholders of record on May 18th, 2017. Shares closed down 0.13% on Friday.

Access RDI's Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. Research Report at:
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=WBA

Our Actionable Research on Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD) and Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA) can be downloaded free of charge at Research Driven Investing.

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SOURCE: RDInvesting.com