Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Reduces Position in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. reduced its position in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 372,971 shares of the coffee company’s stock after selling 4,684 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $35,809,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Everpar Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Starbucks during the fourth quarter valued at $470,000. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Starbucks by 96.3% in the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 5,213 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $508,000 after acquiring an additional 2,558 shares in the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Starbucks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $456,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Starbucks by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 10,486 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $1,007,000 after acquiring an additional 960 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Starbucks by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 2,404 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on SBUX. William Blair lowered Starbucks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Starbucks from $100.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. HSBC dropped their target price on shares of Starbucks from $107.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Starbucks from $106.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $120.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $96.43.

Insider Transactions at Starbucks

In related news, CEO Michael Aaron Conway sold 3,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.39, for a total value of $277,517.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 81,199 shares in the company, valued at $6,933,582.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 7,250 shares of company stock worth $651,738 over the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Starbucks Stock Performance

SBUX stock traded down $0.40 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $72.50. The company had a trading volume of 21,888,790 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,714,714. Starbucks Co. has a twelve month low of $71.80 and a twelve month high of $108.12. The company has a market cap of $82.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.53.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The coffee company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.11). Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 49.91% and a net margin of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $8.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Starbucks Co. will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Starbucks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Starbucks’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.81%.

Starbucks Company Profile

Starbucks Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a roaster, marketer, and retailer of coffee worldwide. The company operates through three segments: North America, International, and Channel Development. Its stores offer coffee and tea beverages, roasted whole beans and ground coffees, single serve products, and ready-to-drink beverages; and various food products, such as pastries, breakfast sandwiches, and lunch items.