Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Buys 6,493 Shares of Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Starbucks Co. (NASDAQ:SBUX) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 62,264 shares of the coffee company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,493 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Starbucks were worth $5,682,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Starbucks by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,974,407 shares of the coffee company’s stock valued at $4,482,045,000 after buying an additional 437,218 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 333,004 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Starbucks by 55.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,779,859 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $1,928,339,000 after purchasing an additional 7,015,375 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Starbucks by 100.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,149,937 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $1,476,967,000 after purchasing an additional 7,598,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Starbucks by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,916,777 shares of the coffee company’s stock worth $1,087,406,000 after purchasing an additional 154,093 shares during the last quarter. 72.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SBUX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Starbucks from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Starbucks from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Starbucks from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Starbucks in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Starbucks from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $105.75.

Starbucks Stock Performance

NASDAQ SBUX opened at $105.47 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.02, a PEG ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $103.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.94. Starbucks Co. has a 52 week low of $71.55 and a 52 week high of $117.46.

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The coffee company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.01. Starbucks had a negative return on equity of 44.97% and a net margin of 9.73%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Starbucks Co. will post 2.99 EPS for the current year.

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.