Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) Declares $0.61 Quarterly Dividend

Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 19th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 0.61 per share by the coffee company on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th.

Starbucks has increased its dividend by an average of 8.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Starbucks has a dividend payout ratio of 66.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Starbucks to earn $3.66 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 66.7%.

Starbucks Stock Performance

SBUX opened at $111.03 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $97.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.10. Starbucks has a twelve month low of $71.55 and a twelve month high of $112.62. The firm has a market cap of $126.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.82, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.00.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The coffee company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.01. Starbucks had a net margin of 9.73% and a negative return on equity of 44.97%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Starbucks will post 3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Starbucks

In other Starbucks news, CFO Rachel Ruggeri sold 1,491 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.54, for a total transaction of $148,414.14. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 80,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,975,542.96. This trade represents a 1.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on SBUX. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $98.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $96.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Starbucks from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned 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, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.33.

About Starbucks

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.