Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) inches up in early trading session on Thursday as the firm said that its board of directors has declared a quarterly dividend of 48 cents per share, the same as the previous quarter and a 0.5 percent increase over the year-ago quarter. The dividend will be paid to stockholders of record on February 16, 2023 on March 10, 2023. Walgreens Boots Alliance and its parent business, Walgreen Co., have paid a dividend for 361 consecutive quarters (more than 90 years) and have raised the dividend for 47 years in a row.
Amid Labor Crunch CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) and Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) adjust pharmacy hours
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) said recently that it will change working hours for its U.S. pharmacy team and apply them statewide in 4,600 stores, while CVS Health Corp (NYSE: CVS) said it would do the same for around two-thirds of its retail pharmacies due to a tight labor market.
Since the COVID-19 epidemic, the United States has been facing a countrywide labor shortage, forcing merchants to provide tempting incentives and wage rises.
Walgreens Boots Alliance and CVS both upped their minimum wage to $15 per hour in 2021, while Walmart said last year that it will boost pharmacy workers’ hourly salary to more than $20. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Friday that CVS Health Corp and Walmart were decreasing drugstore hours.
Walmart pharmacies will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday beginning in March, with no changes to weekend hours, according to a company representative. They are now open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. CVS stated that the new hours of operation at impacted pharmacies would vary, beginning in March, and that it will assess operating hours on a regular basis to ensure peak consumer demand is fulfilled.
J&J’s (NYSE: JNJ) Court Loss Weakens Controversial Legal Tactic
A judicial setback by Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) threatens a legal strategy established by a few of the world’s most successful firms to defend lawsuits. A federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled that J&J is too wealthy to file for bankruptcy in order to settle more than 40,000 cancer claims related to its baby powder. The corporation has promised to appeal in order to retain the Texas Two-Step legal strategy, which has been explored by industrial powerhouse 3M Co. and timber giant Georgia-Pacific.
After spending more than $100 million on legal expenses, J&J’s plan was overturned by a three-judge bench that sided with cancer patients. The courts decided that J&J erroneously declared bankruptcy of a specially constructed company, LTL Management, in order to prevent juries from hearing the complaints throughout the country.
“I don’t believe we’ll see anyone else do this,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who teaches lectures on product liability.
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Receives FDA Approval of for BRAVECTO
Merck Animal Health, known as MSD Animal Health outside of the United States and Canada, a company of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) announced the clearance of an additional indication for BRAVECTO® Chews for Dogs by the United States Food and Drug Administration. The new indication cures and manages Asian longhorned ticks, an invasive Ixodid species found in more than one-third of the United States.
The Merck Animal Health’s vice president, Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Holger Lehmann stated that the approval of this additional BRAVECTO use builds on the strong foundation and body of scientific evidence that we have established over the years with their broad-spectrum comprehensive line of parasite protection products. He added, “We have extended our portfolio with a key claim in the battle against parasites with BRAVECTO’s new indication in Asian longhorned ticks, as well as supplied dogs with flea and tick protection that offers instant and sustained killing action.”
