National Pension Service Grows Stock Holdings in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)

National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,935,135 shares of the coffee company’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,836 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $185,792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SBUX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Starbucks by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 106,891,648 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $9,756,001,000 after acquiring an additional 387,632 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Starbucks by 1.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,217,752 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $1,388,924,000 after acquiring an additional 232,031 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Starbucks by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,367,331 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $1,091,378,000 after acquiring an additional 268,030 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Starbucks by 11.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,541,739 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $962,144,000 after acquiring an additional 1,115,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Starbucks by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,027,953 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $948,093,000 after purchasing an additional 27,496 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.29% of the company’s stock.

Starbucks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SBUX traded up $1.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $75.19. The company had a trading volume of 9,130,117 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,867,885. The stock has a market cap of $85.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.72, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.97. Starbucks Co. has a 12 month low of $71.80 and a 12 month high of $108.11. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $93.53.

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

Starbucks Dividend Announcement

The company 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. Starbucks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Starbucks news, insider Michael Aaron Conway sold 3,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.03, for a total transaction of $305,597.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 84,153 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,912,906.59. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,250 shares of company stock worth $651,738. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Starbucks from $106.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Starbucks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $108.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. 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. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Starbucks from $120.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.43.

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.