D.B. Root & Company LLC Trims Position in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)

D.B. Root & Company LLC lowered its position in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,005 shares of the coffee company’s stock after selling 554 shares during the quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $1,552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SBUX. Dakota Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Starbucks by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 55,793 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $5,439,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Weil Company Inc. raised its holdings in Starbucks by 31.2% in the 3rd quarter. Weil Company Inc. now owns 34,580 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $3,371,000 after buying an additional 8,222 shares during the period. Maia Wealth LLC lifted its position in Starbucks by 69.1% in the third quarter. Maia Wealth LLC now owns 18,582 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $1,805,000 after buying an additional 7,596 shares during the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Starbucks by 48.5% during the third quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 30,422 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $2,966,000 after buying an additional 9,936 shares during the period. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its position in shares of Starbucks by 48.6% during the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 37,584 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $3,664,000 after acquiring an additional 12,300 shares during the last quarter. 72.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Starbucks

In other news, CFO Rachel Ruggeri sold 1,491 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,975,542.96. This represents a 1.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SBUX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. BTIG Research upped their price target on Starbucks from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Starbucks in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Starbucks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $92.00 to $115.00 in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Starbucks from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Starbucks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.92.

Starbucks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SBUX opened at $97.73 on Thursday. Starbucks Co. has a 1 year low of $71.55 and a 1 year high of $103.32. The stock has a market cap of $110.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.04.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The coffee company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 46.39% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm had revenue of $9.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.06 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Starbucks Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Starbucks Announces Dividend

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

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.