Ballentine Partners LLC Sells 538 Shares of Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)

Ballentine Partners LLC trimmed its stake in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 1.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,451 shares of the coffee company’s stock after selling 538 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $2,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Starbucks in the fourth quarter worth about $1,240,652,000. Flossbach Von Storch AG raised its stake in shares of Starbucks by 8,677.8% in the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 2,715,405 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $260,706,000 after acquiring an additional 2,684,470 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in shares of Starbucks by 342.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,160,737 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $207,444,000 after acquiring an additional 1,672,656 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Starbucks by 432.5% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,039,633 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $195,825,000 after acquiring an additional 1,656,591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Starbucks by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,146,033 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $493,350,000 after buying an additional 1,591,206 shares during the last quarter. 72.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael Aaron Conway sold 3,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.39, for a total value of $277,517.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 81,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,933,582.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Rachel Ruggeri sold 3,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $300,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 65,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,234,480. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Aaron Conway sold 3,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,750 shares of company stock valued at $878,893 over the last ninety days. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on SBUX shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Starbucks from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. HSBC dropped their price target on shares of Starbucks from $107.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Starbucks in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Starbucks from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Starbucks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $108.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Starbucks presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.00.

Starbucks Price Performance

SBUX stock traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $79.55. The stock had a trading volume of 372,637 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,318,327. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.11 billion, a PE ratio of 22.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.60. Starbucks Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.80 and a fifty-two week high of $107.66.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $8.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.12 billion. Starbucks had a net margin of 11.38% and a negative return on equity of 49.91%. The business’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Starbucks Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Starbucks Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. Starbucks’s payout ratio is presently 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.