Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) stock is trading higher on Friday following a report from Sky News indicating that Sycamore Partners has approached various potential lenders to fund a possible acquisition of the company.

The Details: If a potential acquisition goes through, Sycamore would acquire and take private one of the largest providers of retail pharmacy services in the United States and Britain. A source in the industry told Sky News that Sycamore is likely to sell both Boots and VillageMD.

The private-equity firm is in discussions with financial institutions like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and JP Morgan to fund the deal which is valued at approximately $10 billion.

Walgreens Boots Alliance has previously turned down multiple acquisition bids, including one from Apollo Global Management. In 2019, the company also received a takeover bid from KKR.

How To Buy Walgreens Stock

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Walgreens Boots Alliance – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy 'fractional shares,' which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share. For example, some stock, like Berkshire Hathaway, can cost thousands of dollars to own just one share. However, if you only want to invest a fraction of that, brokerages will allow you to do so.

In the the case of Walgreens Boots Alliance, which is trading at $10.29 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you 9.72 shares of stock.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to 'go short' a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

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WBA Price Action: At the time of publication, Walgreens Boots shares are trading 3.75% higher at $10.10, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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