Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) Shares Down 1%

Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)’s share price traded down 1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $87.68 and last traded at $87.83. 2,487,602 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 8,331,893 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.75.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Starbucks from $102.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $116.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Starbucks in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Starbucks has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.55.

Starbucks Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $99.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $90.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.27.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The coffee company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $9.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.60 billion. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 50.76% and a net margin of 11.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Starbucks Co. will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Starbucks Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Starbucks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.96%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael Aaron Conway sold 3,250 shares of Starbucks stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 81,199 shares in the company, valued at $6,933,582.61. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 7,250 shares of company stock worth $651,738 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Starbucks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Conning Inc. boosted its position in Starbucks by 23.7% during the first quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 392,014 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $35,752,000 after purchasing an additional 75,006 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Starbucks by 1.0% in the first quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 238,642 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $21,809,000 after acquiring an additional 2,357 shares during the period. Harrington Investments INC boosted its position in shares of Starbucks by 1.6% in the first quarter. Harrington Investments INC now owns 36,878 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $3,370,000 after acquiring an additional 588 shares during the period. Narwhal Capital Management lifted its position in Starbucks by 12.6% during the first quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 31,596 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $2,888,000 after purchasing an additional 3,527 shares during the period. Finally, LifeSteps Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Starbucks during the first quarter worth about $96,000. 72.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.