Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 56.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 99,823 shares of the coffee company’s stock after buying an additional 35,952 shares during the quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $9,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in Starbucks during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new stake in Starbucks during the second quarter valued at about $41,000. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Starbucks by 39.4% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 428 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Starbucks in the third quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in shares of Starbucks during the third quarter worth $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SBUX has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $118.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Starbucks from $110.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup lifted 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. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Starbucks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $92.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Starbucks from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Starbucks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.77.

Starbucks Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of Starbucks stock traded up $1.26 during trading on Monday, hitting $93.51. 6,904,897 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,958,891. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.13. The firm has a market cap of $106.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.99. Starbucks Co. has a 52-week low of $71.55 and a 52-week high of $103.32.

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

Starbucks Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Rachel Ruggeri sold 1,452 shares of Starbucks 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 65,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,503,747.36. The trade was a 2.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.