HighTower Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Starbucks Corporation $SBUX

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,071,731 shares of the coffee company’s stock after selling 108,227 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $211,710,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Starbucks by 86.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 176,722 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $16,126,000 after buying an additional 81,952 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its position in Starbucks by 47.0% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 3,642 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Flow Traders U.S. LLC acquired a new position in Starbucks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $288,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its holdings in Starbucks by 92.8% in the 2nd quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 5,225 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $479,000 after acquiring an additional 2,515 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Starbucks by 7.6% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 112,710 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $10,328,000 after acquiring an additional 7,978 shares in the last quarter. 72.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Starbucks Price Performance

Shares of SBUX opened at $104.47 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $119.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.04, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s 50 day moving average is $105.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.14. Starbucks Corporation has a 52-week low of $77.99 and a 52-week high of $110.51.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The coffee company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $9.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.17 billion. Starbucks had a net margin of 5.17% and a negative return on equity of 34.10%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. Starbucks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.550-2.650 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Starbucks Corporation will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Starbucks Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. Starbucks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 142.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on SBUX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $126.00 price objective on shares of Starbucks in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wedbush started coverage on shares of Starbucks in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Melius Research set a $110.00 price target on shares of Starbucks in a report on Monday, August 3rd. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Starbucks from $102.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Starbucks in a report on Friday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $110.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brady Brewer sold 2,229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.99, for a total value of $236,251.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,963,558.65. The trade was a 2.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 have sold 5,046 shares of company stock worth $526,868. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Starbucks 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.