Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Has $384,000 Stock Holdings in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,206 shares of the coffee company’s stock after selling 458 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $384,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc boosted its stake in Starbucks by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc now owns 10,706 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $977,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Starbucks by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,313 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $1,671,000 after buying an additional 2,744 shares during the period. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC raised its position in Starbucks by 25.4% in the 4th quarter. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC now owns 11,159 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after buying an additional 2,263 shares during the last quarter. Clark & Stuart Inc bought a new stake in Starbucks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $507,000. Finally, Matrix Trust Co boosted its position in Starbucks by 605.3% during the 4th quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 1,065 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 914 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SBUX. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Starbucks in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $96.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Starbucks in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Starbucks from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $80.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Starbucks from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Starbucks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.77.

Starbucks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SBUX opened at $93.51 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $106.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.25, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $96.06 and its 200 day moving average is $91.24. Starbucks Co. has a 52 week low of $71.55 and a 52 week high of $103.32.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The coffee company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.80. The company had revenue of $9.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.60 billion. Starbucks had a net margin of 10.40% and a negative return on equity of 46.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.06 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Starbucks Co. will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Starbucks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Starbucks’s payout ratio is 73.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Rachel Ruggeri sold 1,452 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.07, for a total value of $143,849.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 65,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,503,747.36. This represents a 2.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.