Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) Coverage Initiated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price target on the coffee company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 16.85% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Baird R W upgraded shares of Starbucks from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Starbucks from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $81.00 to $110.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Starbucks from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised Starbucks from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $85.00 to $103.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.81.

Starbucks Price Performance

Starbucks stock opened at $98.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $111.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $96.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.18. Starbucks has a fifty-two week low of $71.55 and a fifty-two week high of $107.66.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The coffee company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.80. The business had revenue of $9.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.60 billion. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 46.39% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.06 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Starbucks will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Starbucks

In other news, Director Jorgen Vig Knudstorp acquired 380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $91.50 per share, for a total transaction of $34,770.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 36,242 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,316,143. This represents a 1.06 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Starbucks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in Starbucks by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,974,407 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $4,482,045,000 after purchasing an additional 437,218 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Starbucks by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,277,756 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $2,358,464,000 after buying an additional 333,004 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Starbucks by 55.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,779,859 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $1,928,339,000 after buying an additional 7,015,375 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Starbucks by 100.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,149,937 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $1,476,967,000 after buying an additional 7,598,146 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Starbucks by 2.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,762,684 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $1,146,744,000 after acquiring an additional 327,734 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.29% 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.