Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $109.83 and last traded at $109.7860, with a volume of 235194 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $108.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on SBUX. Morgan Stanley downgraded Starbucks from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Starbucks from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $124.00 price target on shares of Starbucks in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank cut shares of Starbucks from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Starbucks in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.92.

Starbucks Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $99.84. The stock has a market cap of $125.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.97.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The coffee company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.19. Starbucks had a net margin of 5.17% and a negative return on equity of 34.10%. The company had revenue of $9.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. The business’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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Starbucks Corporation will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Starbucks Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Starbucks news, CEO Brady Brewer sold 2,229 shares of Starbucks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was 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 directly owned 75,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,963,558.65. The trade was a 2.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 6,687 shares of company stock valued at $681,663. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SBUX. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Starbucks during the 2nd quarter worth $8,504,509,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Starbucks in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,232,650,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $1,637,704,000 after buying an additional 7,725,547 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Starbucks in the second quarter valued at about $779,790,000. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its position in Starbucks by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 84,727,405 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $7,135,228,000 after acquiring an additional 7,007,268 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.29% 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.