Cozad Asset Management Inc. Lowers Position in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 7.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,396 shares of the coffee company’s stock after selling 329 shares during the quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $422,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SBUX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Starbucks by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 106,891,648 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $9,756,001,000 after purchasing an additional 387,632 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Starbucks by 1.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,217,752 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $1,388,924,000 after buying an additional 232,031 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Starbucks by 11.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,541,739 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $962,144,000 after acquiring an additional 1,115,051 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Starbucks by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,146,033 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $493,350,000 after acquiring an additional 1,591,206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jensen Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Starbucks by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,956,442 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $452,374,000 after acquiring an additional 133,620 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Starbucks

In other Starbucks news, insider Michael Aaron Conway sold 3,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.03, for a total value of $305,597.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 84,153 shares in the company, valued at $7,912,906.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 7,250 shares of company stock worth $651,738 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SBUX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on Starbucks from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays cut their price target on Starbucks from $116.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Starbucks from $106.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Starbucks from $100.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $100.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.39.

Starbucks Trading Down 15.9 %

Shares of Starbucks stock opened at $74.44 on Thursday. Starbucks Co. has a 12 month low of $72.67 and a 12 month high of $114.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $89.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.11. The firm has a market cap of $84.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.97.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The coffee company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $8.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.12 billion. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 50.10% and a net margin of 11.38%. Starbucks’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. Analysts forecast that Starbucks Co. will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Starbucks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Starbucks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.81%.

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.