Empowered Funds LLC Makes New Investment in Starbucks Corporation $SBUX

Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 175,141 shares of the coffee company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,898,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Starbucks by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 84,727,405 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $7,135,228,000 after purchasing an additional 7,007,268 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Starbucks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $8,504,509,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in Starbucks by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 47,869,056 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $4,031,053,000 after acquiring an additional 327,161 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Starbucks by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,373,084 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $2,212,153,000 after acquiring an additional 225,168 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Starbucks by 65.9% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,447,854 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $1,637,704,000 after acquiring an additional 7,725,547 shares during the last quarter. 72.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Starbucks Price Performance

Shares of SBUX stock opened at $107.85 on Friday. Starbucks Corporation has a 12-month low of $77.99 and a 12-month high of $110.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $105.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $100.78.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The coffee company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.19. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 34.10% and a net margin of 5.17%.The firm had revenue of $9.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Starbucks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.550-2.650 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Starbucks Corporation will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Starbucks Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. Starbucks’s payout ratio is currently 142.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $126.00 target price on shares of Starbucks in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective (up from $110.00) on shares of Starbucks in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered Starbucks from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Starbucks in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered shares of Starbucks from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Brady Brewer sold 2,229 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.99, for a total value of $236,251.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 75,135 shares in the company, valued at $7,963,558.65. This represents a 2.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 6,687 shares of company stock valued at $681,663 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Starbucks Company Profile

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.