Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) Shares Acquired by Assetmark Inc.

Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 14.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 95,372 shares of the coffee company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,089 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $9,157,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SBUX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Starbucks by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 106,891,648 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $9,756,001,000 after purchasing an additional 387,632 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Starbucks by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,217,752 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $1,388,924,000 after acquiring an additional 232,031 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Starbucks during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,240,652,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 268,030 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,115,051 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Starbucks from $116.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. BTIG Research decreased their price target on Starbucks from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Starbucks from $94.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Starbucks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $108.00 to $89.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of Starbucks from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Michael Aaron Conway sold 3,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.39, for a total transaction of $277,517.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 81,199 shares in the company, valued at $6,933,582.61. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 3,750 shares of company stock valued at $322,675 over the last quarter. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Starbucks Stock Performance

Starbucks stock opened at $80.45 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $91.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.97. Starbucks Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.80 and a fifty-two week high of $107.66. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.14.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $8.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.12 billion. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 49.91% and a net margin of 11.38%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Starbucks Co. will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Starbucks Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Starbucks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.81%.

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.