TipRanks

Notifications

Starbucks Approves Buy-Back Plan of 40 Million Shares as Investors Meet

Starbucks Corp. (SBUX), said its board of directors authorized a repurchase program of up to 40 million shares of its common stock.

The announcement comes ahead of the coffeemaker’s virtual shareholder meeting today. This plan is in addition to the 16 million shares that remain available as of December 29, 2019 for repurchase under an existing program, the company said in a statement. In 2019, Starbucks returned $12 billion to shareholders via dividends and repurchases of about 140 million shares, it said.

The coffee giant’s shares dropped 10% to $53.13 in early U.S. trading. Analysts have a Moderate Buy rating for the company’s stock with an average price target of $89.88 per share.

As the world grapples with the fast outbreak and human impact of COVID-19, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said the company has the financial strength and resilience to manage through this extraordinary time.

Starbucks added that its partnership with Uber (UBER) Eats, will reach national U.S. availability by the end of April, making it available in 48 states where both companies operate.

Starbucks has been moving to a “to go” model across the U.S. and Canada for at least two weeks to encourage social distancing. As the situation with COVID-19 is very dynamic, customers can now walk up and order at the counter, use the “order ahead” feature within the Starbucks mobile app, visit a Drive Thru or use Starbucks Delivers to get their daily Starbucks, the company said.

Sharon Wrobel
Sharon Wrobel is a journalist and writer with two decades of experience covering financial news in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East. Her work has appeared in global publications including The Financial Times, Bloomberg and The Jerusalem Post.

Leave a Reply

Leave a Reply