Empirical Asset Management LLC Buys 29,182 Shares of Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)

Empirical Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 181.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,301 shares of the coffee company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,182 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $4,134,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Starbucks during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Starbucks by 39.4% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 428 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Starbucks during the third quarter valued at $49,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in Starbucks during the third quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Starbucks in the third quarter valued at about $71,000. Institutional investors own 72.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on SBUX. BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of Starbucks from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Starbucks from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Starbucks in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Starbucks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $92.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.92.

Starbucks Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Starbucks stock opened at $94.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $107.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.53, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $95.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.35. Starbucks Co. has a twelve month low of $71.55 and a twelve month high of $103.32.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The coffee company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.80. The business had revenue of $9.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.60 billion. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 46.39% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.06 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Starbucks Co. will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Starbucks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Starbucks’s payout ratio is 73.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Starbucks

In other Starbucks news, CFO Rachel Ruggeri sold 1,491 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.54, for a total transaction of $148,414.14. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,124 shares in the company, valued at $7,975,542.96. This represents a 1.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.