Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) Shares Sold by Wendell David Associates Inc.

Wendell David Associates Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 14.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,977 shares of the coffee company’s stock after selling 2,425 shares during the quarter. Wendell David Associates Inc.’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $1,275,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in Starbucks by 73.1% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 43,633 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $3,397,000 after buying an additional 18,420 shares during the last quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Starbucks by 10.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,765 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in shares of Starbucks by 59.9% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 216,867 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $16,883,000 after buying an additional 81,233 shares during the period. Sfmg LLC grew its holdings in shares of Starbucks by 3.0% during the second quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 38,452 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $2,994,000 after buying an additional 1,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Starbucks by 3.7% in the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 42,650 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $3,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,503 shares during the period. 72.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SBUX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Starbucks from $110.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush dropped their price objective on Starbucks from $98.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Starbucks from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on Starbucks from $118.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Starbucks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.92.

Starbucks Stock Performance

Shares of SBUX stock opened at $97.73 on Thursday. Starbucks Co. has a one year low of $71.55 and a one year high of $103.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $95.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.99.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The coffee company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 46.39% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $9.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.60 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.06 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Starbucks Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Starbucks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Starbucks’s payout ratio is currently 73.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Starbucks

In other Starbucks news, CFO Rachel Ruggeri sold 1,491 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.54, for a total value of $148,414.14. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,975,542.96. This represents a 1.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Starbucks 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.