United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on UNFI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of United Natural Foods from $46.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 11th. BTIG Research restated a “neutral” rating on shares of United Natural Foods in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of United Natural Foods in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research cut United Natural Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $47.00 target price on shares of United Natural Foods in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.29.

United Natural Foods Price Performance

UNFI stock opened at $46.84 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.95 and a beta of 0.80. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.21. United Natural Foods has a twelve month low of $28.71 and a twelve month high of $57.02.

United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.07. United Natural Foods had a net margin of 0.27% and a return on equity of 10.51%. The business had revenue of $7.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.11) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. United Natural Foods has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.000-3.500 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that United Natural Foods will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Mark Bushway sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.56, for a total transaction of $515,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,635,695.64. This represents a 16.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On United Natural Foods

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in United Natural Foods during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $477,650,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of United Natural Foods by 155.1% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,732,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,047,000 after buying an additional 1,053,081 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of United Natural Foods by 85.7% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,542,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,453,000 after buying an additional 711,913 shares in the last quarter. JCP Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of United Natural Foods by 6.7% in the first quarter. JCP Investment Management LLC now owns 494,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,276,000 after buying an additional 31,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in United Natural Foods by 25.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 433,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,540,000 after acquiring an additional 86,605 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.63% of the company’s stock.

About United Natural Foods

United Natural Foods, Inc (NYSE: UNFI) is a distributor of natural, organic, specialty, fresh and conventional food products in the United States and Canada. The company supplies grocery retailers, independent stores, supermarkets, e-commerce businesses, foodservice operators and other customers with a broad range of products.

UNFI’s offerings include produce, perishables, center-store groceries, refrigerated and frozen foods, beverages, supplements, personal-care products and household items.