Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Trims Position in Starbucks Corporation $SBUX

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC trimmed its holdings in Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 34.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 10,686 shares of the coffee company’s stock after selling 5,506 shares during the period. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SBUX. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Starbucks by 11.4% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 85,460,350 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $7,229,968,000 after buying an additional 8,774,198 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Starbucks by 146.6% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,049,192 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $553,201,000 after purchasing an additional 3,596,014 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Starbucks by 22.5% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,691,772 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $1,243,104,000 after purchasing an additional 2,699,479 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Starbucks by 80.6% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,105,164 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $433,923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,277,792 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Starbucks by 1.9% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 77,720,137 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $6,575,430,000 after purchasing an additional 1,462,874 shares during the period. 72.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Starbucks Stock Performance

Shares of SBUX stock opened at $106.82 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $121.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.40. Starbucks Corporation has a 12-month low of $77.99 and a 12-month high of $108.88.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The coffee company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $9.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.17 billion. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 29.24% and a net margin of 3.89%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. Starbucks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.250-2.450 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Starbucks Corporation will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Starbucks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Starbucks’s dividend payout ratio is presently 187.88%.

Key Headlines Impacting Starbucks

Here are the key news stories impacting Starbucks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors appear to like the cost-cutting focus, as the layoffs and office closures are intended to improve efficiency, support margin recovery, and help fund the company’s turnaround strategy. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street sentiment also remains supportive, with TD Cowen upgrading Starbucks to Buy and raising its price target, citing improving sales drivers, margin recovery, and multiple tangible catalysts for the comeback story. Analyst upgrade article
• Neutral Sentiment: The restructuring comes with a sizable estimated $400 million charge, which could weigh on near-term earnings even as management argues the actions will strengthen the business over time. New York Times article
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent trading also reflects a broader re-rating of the stock, which has been pushing toward new highs as investors gain confidence in CEO Brian Niccol’s turnaround plan. CNBC article
• Negative Sentiment: The job cuts and office closures also signal that the turnaround is still in progress, and the company may continue to face pressure from restructuring costs and execution risk before the benefits show up in results. Wall Street Journal article

Insider Activity

In other Starbucks news, CEO Brady Brewer sold 2,229 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.81, for a total transaction of $233,621.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,548,198.79. This represents a 2.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Sara Kelly sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.12, for a total transaction of $242,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 59,609 shares in the company, valued at $5,789,226.08. The trade was a 4.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 11,187 shares of company stock worth $1,111,085 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on SBUX. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $99.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Starbucks in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. UBS Group lowered shares of Starbucks from a “neutral” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush initiated coverage on shares of Starbucks in a report on Thursday. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Starbucks from an “overweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.48.

About Starbucks

Starbucks Corporation is a global coffeehouse chain and roaster that operates, licenses and franchises coffee shops and related retail businesses. Founded in Seattle, Washington in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker, the company grew from a single store focused on whole-bean coffee and equipment into a broad consumer-facing brand. Howard Schultz, who joined the company later and served in senior leadership roles, is widely credited with transforming Starbucks into a mass-market specialty coffee retailer and expanding its footprint internationally.

Starbucks’ core activities center on the retail sale of hot and cold specialty beverages, whole-bean and packaged coffees, teas and ready-to-drink products, along with complementary food items and merchandise such as mugs and brewing equipment.