Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) Trading Down 0.7% Following Analyst Downgrade

Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)’s share price fell 0.7% on Tuesday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $88.00 to $85.00. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Starbucks traded as low as $72.13 and last traded at $72.36. 6,086,727 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 36% from the average session volume of 9,528,637 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.90.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on SBUX. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Starbucks from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. DZ Bank cut shares of Starbucks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Starbucks from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Starbucks in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Starbucks from $100.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Michael Aaron Conway sold 3,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 81,199 shares in the company, valued at $6,933,582.61. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 7,250 shares of company stock valued at $651,738 over the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Starbucks

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SBUX. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Starbucks in the first quarter worth about $7,484,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. raised its stake in shares of Starbucks by 60.5% during the 1st quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 37,374 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $3,416,000 after acquiring an additional 14,085 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management lifted its position in Starbucks by 17.1% during the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 336,763 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $30,777,000 after acquiring an additional 49,250 shares during the last quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Starbucks by 2.9% in the first quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 92,275 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $8,433,000 after acquiring an additional 2,606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Starbucks by 20.7% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,267,821 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $115,866,000 after purchasing an additional 217,075 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.29% of the company’s stock.

Starbucks Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $83.25 billion, a PE ratio of 20.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $88.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.53.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The coffee company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.11). Starbucks had a net margin of 11.38% and a negative return on equity of 49.91%. The business had revenue of $8.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Starbucks Co. will post 3.63 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. Starbucks’s payout ratio is 62.81%.

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.