Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $110.57 and last traded at $110.4240, with a volume of 52,530 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $109.70.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SBUX has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho reduced their target price on Starbucks from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Starbucks in a report on Friday, October 30th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Starbucks in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Starbucks from $124.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Starbucks from $104.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $108.74.

Starbucks Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $125.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.13, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $99.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.92.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The coffee company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.08. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 38.61% and a net margin of 6.66%. The company had revenue of $9.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Starbucks Corporation will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Starbucks Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.63 per share. This is a boost from Starbucks’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Starbucks’s dividend payout ratio is 112.22%.

Insider Activity at Starbucks

In other news, CEO Brady Brewer sold 2,229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.60, for a total transaction of $235,382.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 73,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,724,534.40. The trade was a 2.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 4,458 shares of company stock worth $449,684 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Starbucks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SBUX. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Starbucks during the 2nd quarter worth $8,504,509,000. State Street Corp grew its position in Starbucks by 3.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,260,268 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $5,033,907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530,497 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Starbucks by 9.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,761,355 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $1,412,060,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300,085 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Starbucks by 26.2% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,506,482 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $869,277,000 after acquiring an additional 1,767,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Starbucks in the second quarter valued at $779,790,000. 72.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Starbucks

Starbucks Corporation is a global specialty coffee company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1971, the company operates and licenses coffeehouses under the Starbucks brand, serving brewed coffee, espresso beverages, teas, cold drinks, food, and other ready-to-consume products.

In addition to its company-operated and licensed stores, Starbucks sells packaged coffee, tea, and single-serve products through grocery retailers, convenience stores, and other distribution channels.