United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

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

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of United Natural Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of United Natural Foods from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of United Natural Foods from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of United Natural Foods from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of United Natural Foods from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.63.

United Natural Foods Stock Up 4.1%

United Natural Foods stock opened at $48.95 on Friday. United Natural Foods has a 12 month low of $20.78 and a 12 month high of $49.09. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -37.65 and a beta of 0.83.

United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 10th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.11. United Natural Foods had a positive return on equity of 6.05% and a negative net margin of 0.25%.The firm had revenue of $7.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. United Natural Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.300-2.700 EPS. Equities analysts predict that United Natural Foods will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in shares of United Natural Foods during the 4th quarter worth $656,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in shares of United Natural Foods by 259.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 226,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,529,000 after acquiring an additional 163,622 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of United Natural Foods during the 3rd quarter worth $1,387,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new position in shares of United Natural Foods during the 3rd quarter worth $2,588,000. Finally, Towle & Co. purchased a new position in shares of United Natural Foods during the 3rd quarter worth $13,724,000. 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 leading distributor of natural, organic and specialty foods in North America. Founded in 1976 and headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, the company has grown through strategic acquisitions and organic expansion to become one of the largest food distributors serving retail, foodservice and e-commerce customers.

UNFI’s core business centers on the procurement, warehousing and distribution of a broad portfolio of products, including fresh produce, groceries, frozen foods, dairy, bakery items, beverages, supplements and household essentials.