First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Decreases Holdings in US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. trimmed its position in shares of US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) by 42.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,316 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,178 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in US Foods were worth $283,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. bought a new position in US Foods in the fourth quarter valued at about $560,000. Savant Capital LLC increased its position in shares of US Foods by 35.8% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 6,932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 1,829 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of US Foods by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $588,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of US Foods by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 145,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,793,000 after purchasing an additional 5,123 shares during the period. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its holdings in shares of US Foods by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 49,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,355,000 after buying an additional 4,936 shares during the last quarter. 98.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on USFD shares. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of US Foods in a report on Monday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on US Foods from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on US Foods from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen raised US Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on US Foods from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $76.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Dirk J. Locascio sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $1,125,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 115,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,630,775. The trade was a 11.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

US Foods Price Performance

NYSE:USFD opened at $75.91 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.07. US Foods Holding Corp. has a 52 week low of $50.05 and a 52 week high of $79.64. The stock has a market cap of $17.56 billion, a PE ratio of 37.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

US Foods (NYSE:USFD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.69 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $9.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.42 billion. US Foods had a return on equity of 15.03% and a net margin of 1.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that US Foods Holding Corp. will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About US Foods

US Foods Holding Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in marketing, sale, and distribution of fresh, frozen, and dry food and non-food products to foodservice customers in the United States. The company's customers include independently owned single and multi-unit restaurants, regional concepts, national restaurant chains, hospitals, nursing homes, hotels and motels, country clubs, government and military organizations, colleges and universities, and retail locations.