First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Buys Shares of 10,704 United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE:UNFI)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. bought a new stake in United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE:UNFI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 10,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $174,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in United Natural Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $219,000. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of United Natural Foods by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 35,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $573,000 after buying an additional 689 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of United Natural Foods in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Bfsg LLC bought a new position in shares of United Natural Foods in the fourth quarter worth about $110,000. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of United Natural Foods by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 33,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $537,000 after buying an additional 1,205 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on UNFI. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on United Natural Foods from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. StockNews.com downgraded United Natural Foods from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $13.00 price objective (down previously from $15.00) on shares of United Natural Foods in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.40.

United Natural Foods Stock Performance

NYSE:UNFI opened at $9.68 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. United Natural Foods, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.58 and a 12-month high of $28.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $10.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $575.35 million, a P/E ratio of -4.96 and a beta of 0.63.

United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 6th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.87 billion. United Natural Foods had a positive return on equity of 1.20% and a negative net margin of 0.38%. The firm’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that United Natural Foods, Inc. will post -0.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at United Natural Foods

In other United Natural Foods news, CAO Richard Eric Esper sold 4,375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.35, for a total transaction of $49,656.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $373,017.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About United Natural Foods

United Natural Foods, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, distributes natural, organic, specialty, produce, and conventional grocery and non-food products in the United States and Canada. It operates in two segments, Wholesale and Retail. The company offers grocery and general merchandise, produce, perishables and frozen foods, wellness and personal care items, and bulk and foodservice products.