Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) Shares Purchased by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 69,181 shares of the coffee company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,918 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $6,313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Riverview Trust Co lifted its position in Starbucks by 3.4% during the third quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 3,199 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Essex Savings Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Starbucks by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 7,250 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $707,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Virtue Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Starbucks by 1.7% in the third quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 6,909 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $674,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Starbucks by 39.4% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 428 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Childress Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Starbucks by 4.8% during the third quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,727 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.29% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rachel Ruggeri sold 1,452 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.07, for a total transaction of $143,849.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 65,648 shares in the company, valued at $6,503,747.36. The trade was a 2.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SBUX. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of 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 research note on Thursday, September 26th. Wedbush dropped their price target on Starbucks from $98.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Starbucks from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of Starbucks in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Starbucks from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.92.

Starbucks Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Starbucks stock opened at $95.13 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $95.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.50. Starbucks Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.55 and a fifty-two week high of $103.32. The firm has a market cap of $107.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.99.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $9.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.60 billion. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 46.39% and a net margin of 10.40%. The business’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.06 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Starbucks Co. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Starbucks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. Starbucks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.72%.

Starbucks Company 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.