Wedbush Securities Inc. Trims Holdings in Starbucks Corporation $SBUX

Wedbush Securities Inc. decreased its position in shares of Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 14.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,595 shares of the coffee company’s stock after selling 6,325 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $3,842,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SBUX. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Starbucks by 86.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 176,722 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $16,126,000 after purchasing an additional 81,952 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Starbucks by 47.0% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 3,642 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Flow Traders U.S. LLC bought a new position in Starbucks in the 2nd quarter worth $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 buying an additional 2,515 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Starbucks by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 112,710 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $10,328,000 after buying an additional 7,978 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.29% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Starbucks news, CEO Brady Brewer sold 2,229 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.99, for a total transaction of $236,251.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 75,135 shares in the company, valued at $7,963,558.65. This trade represents a 2.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 6,687 shares of company stock worth $681,663. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on SBUX shares. Wedbush assumed coverage on Starbucks in a report on Thursday, May 14th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Starbucks in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Starbucks from $105.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research downgraded Starbucks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut Starbucks from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. One equities research 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Starbucks presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $110.30.

Starbucks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SBUX opened at $107.85 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $122.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.97. Starbucks Corporation has a 52-week low of $77.99 and a 52-week high of $110.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $105.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $100.78.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The coffee company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. Starbucks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.550-2.650 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Starbucks Corporation will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Starbucks Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Starbucks’s dividend payout ratio is presently 142.53%.

About Starbucks

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.