Aureus Asset Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)

Aureus Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 39.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,651 shares of the coffee company’s stock after selling 2,393 shares during the quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC increased its stake in Starbucks by 55.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,779,859 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $1,928,339,000 after purchasing an additional 7,015,375 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Starbucks by 2.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,762,684 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $1,146,744,000 after purchasing an additional 327,734 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Starbucks by 2.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,720,903 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $678,923,000 after purchasing an additional 221,718 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Starbucks by 108.1% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,475,156 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $348,391,000 after purchasing an additional 2,324,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Starbucks by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,362,100 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $327,771,000 after purchasing an additional 9,900 shares during the last quarter. 72.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Starbucks Stock Performance

Shares of SBUX opened at $102.46 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $116.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.97. Starbucks Co. has a one year low of $71.55 and a one year high of $103.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $97.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.10.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The coffee company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80. The firm had revenue of $9.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.60 billion. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 46.39% and a net margin of 10.40%. Starbucks’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.06 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Starbucks Co. will post 3.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Starbucks Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. This is an increase from Starbucks’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Starbucks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.72%.

Insider Activity at Starbucks

In other Starbucks news, CFO Rachel Ruggeri sold 1,491 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 80,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,975,542.96. This trade represents a 1.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jorgen Vig Knudstorp bought 380 shares of Starbucks stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $91.50 per share, for a total transaction of $34,770.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 36,242 shares in the company, valued at $3,316,143. The trade was a 1.06 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays dropped their target price on Starbucks from $110.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup upped their target price on Starbucks from $96.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded Starbucks from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Piper Sandler upgraded Starbucks from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Starbucks in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.77.

Starbucks 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.