Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) Stock Rating Lowered by William Blair

William Blair lowered shares of Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on SBUX. TD Cowen reissued a hold rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Starbucks in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Starbucks from a buy rating to a hold rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $108.00 to $89.00 in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Starbucks from $100.00 to $91.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Starbucks from $106.00 to $100.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Stephens restated an equal weight rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Starbucks in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $97.09.

Starbucks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SBUX opened at $73.11 on Wednesday. Starbucks has a 1 year low of $72.67 and a 1 year high of $108.12. The firm has a market cap of $82.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.98.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The coffee company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $8.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.12 billion. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 49.91% and a net margin of 11.38%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Starbucks will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Starbucks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. Starbucks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Starbucks

In other Starbucks news, CEO Michael Aaron Conway sold 3,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.39, for a total transaction of $277,517.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 81,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,933,582.61. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,250 shares of company stock valued at $651,738. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Starbucks

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brookstone Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Starbucks by 8.4% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 18,541 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $1,751,000 after acquiring an additional 1,443 shares during the last quarter. Vicus Capital acquired a new position in shares of Starbucks in the third quarter worth $237,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Starbucks by 1.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 647,987 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $59,142,000 after acquiring an additional 8,374 shares during the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Starbucks by 7.9% in the third quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 3,675 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Inc. OK increased its stake in shares of Starbucks by 11.5% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 3,789 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $346,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. 72.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Starbucks Company Profile

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.