Fisher Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)

Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,367,331 shares of the coffee company’s stock after purchasing an additional 268,030 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $1,091,378,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LGT Group Foundation lifted its stake in shares of Starbucks by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 85,753 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $8,226,000 after purchasing an additional 1,305 shares during the period. Rogco LP increased its holdings in Starbucks by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Rogco LP now owns 14,148 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $1,358,000 after buying an additional 2,604 shares in the last quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Starbucks by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,915 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $3,640,000 after buying an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Starbucks in the fourth quarter worth about $209,000. Finally, Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Starbucks by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. now owns 11,356 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $1,090,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Starbucks

In other news, CEO Michael Aaron Conway sold 3,250 shares of Starbucks stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.39, for a total value of $277,517.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 81,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,933,582.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 7,250 shares of company stock worth $651,738. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SBUX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Starbucks in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Gordon Haskett cut shares of Starbucks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Starbucks from $100.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Starbucks from $105.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Starbucks from $107.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Starbucks currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.39.

Starbucks Price Performance

Shares of Starbucks stock traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $74.42. The company had a trading volume of 11,554,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,161,820. The company’s 50-day moving average is $89.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.11. The company has a market cap of $84.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.97. Starbucks Co. has a twelve month low of $72.67 and a twelve month high of $109.72.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The coffee company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.11). Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 50.10% and a net margin of 11.38%. The firm had revenue of $8.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Starbucks Co. will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

Starbucks Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Starbucks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.81%.

About Starbucks

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.