United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.07 EPS

United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.07, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $7.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.61 billion. United Natural Foods had a negative net margin of 0.21% and a positive return on equity of 3.13%. United Natural Foods’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.01 earnings per share.

United Natural Foods Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE UNFI traded up $4.81 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $36.57. The company had a trading volume of 1,254,246 shares, compared to its average volume of 897,550. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.92 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 1.41. United Natural Foods has a 12 month low of $18.81 and a 12 month high of $36.60.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNFI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $24.00 target price on shares of United Natural Foods and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded United Natural Foods from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Zacks Research upgraded United Natural Foods from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Northcoast Research upgraded United Natural Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of United Natural Foods from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, United Natural Foods has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On United Natural Foods

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in UNFI. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in United Natural Foods during the fourth quarter valued at $656,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of United Natural Foods by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 44,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,040,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in United Natural Foods by 5.1% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 35,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $962,000 after buying an additional 1,703 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in United Natural Foods by 19.2% in the second quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 20,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,000 after buying an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning lifted its position in United Natural Foods by 5.5% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 15,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 817 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.63% of the company’s stock.

United Natural Foods Company Profile

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.