Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Sells 940 Shares of Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lessened its stake in shares of Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,443 shares of the coffee company’s stock after selling 940 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $6,154,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SBUX. Charles Schwab Trust Co grew its stake in Starbucks by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Trust Co now owns 9,445 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $862,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Starbucks by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,940 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 541 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Starbucks by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 179,398 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $16,370,000 after purchasing an additional 764 shares in the last quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Starbucks by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 17,664 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $1,612,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214 shares during the period. Finally, Rezny Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Starbucks by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Rezny Wealth Management Inc. now owns 15,547 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $1,419,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. 72.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Starbucks

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SBUX. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Starbucks in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Starbucks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $92.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Starbucks in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $96.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Starbucks from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.92.

Starbucks Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:SBUX opened at $95.13 on Tuesday. Starbucks Co. has a twelve month low of $71.55 and a twelve month high of $103.32. The stock has a market cap of $107.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $95.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.84.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.80. Starbucks had a net margin of 10.40% and a negative return on equity of 46.39%. The company had revenue of $9.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.06 earnings per share. Starbucks’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Starbucks Co. will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Starbucks Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Starbucks’s payout ratio is presently 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.