Palisade Asset Management LLC Boosts Stake in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)

Palisade Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 10.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,486 shares of the coffee company’s stock after buying an additional 960 shares during the quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $1,007,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SBUX. Orca Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Starbucks by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Orca Investment Management LLC now owns 7,494 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $719,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Starbucks by 481.9% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 1,547,411 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $148,567,000 after buying an additional 1,281,471 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Starbucks by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 56,939 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $5,197,000 after buying an additional 7,619 shares during the last quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Starbucks during the 4th quarter worth $209,000. Finally, Tyche Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Starbucks during the fourth quarter worth about $794,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SBUX shares. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Starbucks from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Starbucks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $108.00 to $89.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Starbucks from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Gordon Haskett cut shares of Starbucks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, William Blair cut shares of Starbucks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at Starbucks

In other Starbucks news, insider Michael Aaron Conway sold 3,250 shares of Starbucks stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.03, for a total transaction of $305,597.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 84,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,912,906.59. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 7,250 shares of company stock valued at $651,738 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Starbucks Stock Down 0.5 %

Starbucks stock traded down $0.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $72.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 21,888,790 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,714,714. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $88.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $93.53. Starbucks Co. has a twelve month low of $71.80 and a twelve month high of $108.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Starbucks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. 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 (DPR) is currently 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.