United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) Rating Lowered to Neutral at Northcoast Research

Northcoast Research cut shares of United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group reduced their price target on United Natural Foods from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. CL King raised United Natural Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on United Natural Foods from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised United Natural Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.43.

United Natural Foods Price Performance

Shares of UNFI opened at $21.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.57 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $26.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.71. United Natural Foods has a 1 year low of $11.88 and a 1 year high of $34.76.

United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 10th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $8.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.78 billion. United Natural Foods had a positive return on equity of 1.27% and a negative net margin of 0.30%. United Natural Foods’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that United Natural Foods will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On United Natural Foods

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in United Natural Foods in the fourth quarter worth $656,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in United Natural Foods by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 31,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $873,000 after acquiring an additional 834 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in United Natural Foods by 84.5% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $220,000 after buying an additional 3,682 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in United Natural Foods by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 84,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,304,000 after buying an additional 5,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in United Natural Foods by 200.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 2,128 shares in the last quarter. 87.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.