Sara Kelly Sells 2,500 Shares of Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) Stock

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) EVP Sara Kelly sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.12, for a total transaction of $242,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 59,609 shares in the company, valued at $5,789,226.08. The trade was a 4.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Starbucks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SBUX opened at $100.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $94.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.03. The stock has a market cap of $114.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.93. Starbucks Corporation has a 52-week low of $75.50 and a 52-week high of $104.82.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The coffee company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.03). Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 28.66% and a net margin of 3.63%.The business had revenue of $9.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS. Starbucks’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Starbucks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.150-2.400 EPS. Analysts predict that Starbucks Corporation will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Key Starbucks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Starbucks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large drop in short interest — Short interest fell ~14.8% in February to about 41.24M shares (3.6% of float) with a 6.4 days‑to‑cover, reducing short‑squeeze risk and removing a layer of downside pressure.
• Positive Sentiment: New rewards program gaining traction — Early reports say the revamped Starbucks Rewards rollout is taking hold, which could lift transactions and loyalty metrics if sustained. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Nashville supply‑chain hub — Opening a North American supply‑chain/corporate hub in Nashville aims to tighten logistics, lower costs and improve inventory flow, supporting margin recovery over time. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: U.S. transactions improving — Zacks flagged the first rise in U.S. transactions in eight quarters, a sign of recovering customer traffic and revenue momentum. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: New/updated analyst coverage — DA Davidson initiated coverage (neutral) and other brokers have mixed stances; overall consensus remains a “Moderate Buy” with a consensus target near $104. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Wolfe Research downgrade — Wolfe cut SBUX to Peer Perform from Outperform, highlighting that Starbucks is early in a multi‑year turnaround and faces high execution risk, which can cap multiple expansion. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — CEO Brady Brewer (and an EVP) reported small share sales (totaling several thousand shares); modest in size but often interpreted as a near‑term negative signal by some investors. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Brand/PR risk — Public criticism over sugar content in some seasonal drinks introduces reputational and potential regulatory risk for marketing/product formulation. Read More.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Starbucks

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Starbucks by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 433,112 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $36,576,000 after acquiring an additional 13,262 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Starbucks in the 3rd quarter worth $6,099,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Starbucks by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 548,768 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $46,426,000 after acquiring an additional 16,428 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Starbucks in the third quarter valued at about $3,491,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Starbucks by 0.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 113,438,902 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $9,596,931,000 after purchasing an additional 577,279 shares in the last quarter. 72.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research raised Starbucks from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $110.00 price objective on Starbucks in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. New Street Research set a $90.00 target price on Starbucks in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $103.00 target price (up from $100.00) on shares of Starbucks in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Starbucks from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $104.22.

About Starbucks

Starbucks Corporation is a global coffeehouse chain and roaster that operates, licenses and franchises coffee shops and related retail businesses. Founded in Seattle, Washington in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker, the company grew from a single store focused on whole-bean coffee and equipment into a broad consumer-facing brand. Howard Schultz, who joined the company later and served in senior leadership roles, is widely credited with transforming Starbucks into a mass-market specialty coffee retailer and expanding its footprint internationally.

Starbucks’ core activities center on the retail sale of hot and cold specialty beverages, whole-bean and packaged coffees, teas and ready-to-drink products, along with complementary food items and merchandise such as mugs and brewing equipment.