Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Has $423,000 Holdings in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,407 shares of the coffee company’s stock after selling 362 shares during the quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $423,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Palisade Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Starbucks by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 10,486 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $1,007,000 after acquiring an additional 960 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its position in shares of Starbucks by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 2,404 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Starbucks by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,027,953 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $948,093,000 after purchasing an additional 27,496 shares during the last quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in Starbucks by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 7,544 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $724,000 after purchasing an additional 980 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Starbucks by 94.3% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 53,101 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $5,098,000 after purchasing an additional 25,778 shares in the last quarter. 72.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SBUX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Starbucks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $108.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Starbucks from $106.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Starbucks in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Starbucks from $94.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, William Blair downgraded shares of Starbucks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Starbucks has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.43.

Starbucks Price Performance

Starbucks stock traded down $0.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $72.50. 21,888,790 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,714,714. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.53. The firm has a market cap of $82.12 billion, a PE ratio of 19.97, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.97. Starbucks Co. has a 12 month low of $71.80 and a 12 month high of $108.12.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $8.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.12 billion. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 49.91% and a net margin of 11.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Starbucks Co. will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Starbucks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. Starbucks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael Aaron Conway sold 3,250 shares of Starbucks 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 81,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,933,582.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 7,250 shares of company stock worth $651,738 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Starbucks Company 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.