Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as $109.00 and last traded at $108.5560, with a volume of 14121 shares. The stock had previously closed at $108.37.

Key Starbucks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Starbucks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Starbucks is getting fresh support from Wall Street, with multiple analysts raising price targets or reiterating bullish ratings, which is helping reinforce expectations that the recovery story still has room to run. Earnings Preview: What To Expect From Starbucks’ Report
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also encouraged by Starbucks’ cost-cutting push, including using AI to reduce software spending, as part of its “Back to Starbucks” turnaround plan focused on efficiency, loyalty, and store improvements. Starbucks spends $400 million a year on software — now it’s using AI to build its own and cut out the middleman
• Positive Sentiment: Starbucks defeated a shareholder lawsuit tied to declining U.S. and China sales, removing a legal overhang and reducing a source of uncertainty for investors. Starbucks defeats shareholder lawsuit over US, China sales declines
• Neutral Sentiment: Starbucks scheduled its fiscal third-quarter earnings call for July 29, keeping attention on upcoming results that could validate or challenge the current rally. Starbucks Announces Q3 Fiscal Year 2026 Results Conference Call
• Neutral Sentiment: Some recent articles note that the stock may already be pricing in a meaningful part of the turnaround, so valuation concerns could limit upside if earnings do not surprise to the upside. Is Starbucks (SBUX) Overvalued Even With Its AI Cost Cuts?
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts remain mixed overall, and some commentary suggests Starbucks still faces questions around valuation and execution, which may temper enthusiasm despite the recent gains. Analysts’ Opinions Are Mixed on These Consumer Cyclical Stocks: Starbucks (SBUX), Airbnb (ABNB) and Silgan Holdings (SLGN)

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on SBUX shares. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Starbucks in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded Starbucks from a “sector perform” rating to a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Starbucks from $112.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Starbucks in a report on Thursday, May 14th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Wedbush initiated coverage on Starbucks in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.42.

Starbucks Stock Down 0.1%

The stock has a market capitalization of $123.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $102.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $97.78.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The coffee company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.06. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 29.24% and a net margin of 3.89%.The firm had revenue of $9.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Starbucks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.250-2.450 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Starbucks Corporation will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Starbucks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Starbucks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 187.88%.

Insider Transactions at Starbucks

In other news, CEO Brady Brewer sold 2,229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.00, for a total value of $231,816.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 77,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,045,856. The trade was a 2.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Sara Kelly sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $210,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 57,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,053,565. This trade represents a 3.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,687 shares of company stock worth $889,033. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SBUX. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Starbucks by 86.5% in the fourth 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. boosted its holdings 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 worth $334,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Flow Traders U.S. LLC acquired a new position in Starbucks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $288,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its position in shares of Starbucks by 92.8% in the second quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 5,225 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $479,000 after purchasing an additional 2,515 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Starbucks by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 112,710 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $10,328,000 after buying an additional 7,978 shares in the last quarter. 72.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.