Yousif Capital Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)

Yousif Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 127,665 shares of the coffee company’s stock after selling 6,932 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $12,257,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Flossbach Von Storch AG raised its holdings in Starbucks by 8,677.8% in the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 2,715,405 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $260,706,000 after purchasing an additional 2,684,470 shares in the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Starbucks in the 3rd quarter worth $147,125,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Starbucks by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,146,033 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $493,350,000 after purchasing an additional 1,591,206 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Starbucks by 481.9% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 1,547,411 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $148,567,000 after buying an additional 1,281,471 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Starbucks by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,679,621 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $427,109,000 after buying an additional 1,154,020 shares during the period. 72.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SBUX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Starbucks from $107.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Starbucks from $106.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Starbucks from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $100.00 to $94.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Starbucks in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.68.

Starbucks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SBUX traded up $0.89 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $88.76. The company had a trading volume of 4,678,260 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,369,521. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $90.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.39. Starbucks Co. has a fifty-two week low of $84.29 and a fifty-two week high of $115.48.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The coffee company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $9.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.60 billion. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 50.76% and a net margin of 11.70%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Starbucks Co. will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Starbucks Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. Starbucks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.96%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael Aaron Conway sold 3,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.39, for a total value of $277,517.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 81,199 shares in the company, valued at $6,933,582.61. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 7,000 shares of company stock worth $629,738 over the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.