United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE:UNFI)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $47.99 and last traded at $47.2970, with a volume of 70072 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $47.03.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNFI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of United Natural Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of United Natural Foods from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of United Natural Foods in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of United Natural Foods from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of United Natural Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.63.

United Natural Foods Stock Up 1.2%

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $41.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a PE ratio of -36.72 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 1.33.

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

Institutional Trading of United Natural Foods

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of United Natural Foods in the 4th quarter worth about $656,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its position in shares of United Natural Foods by 259.4% in the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 226,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,529,000 after buying an additional 163,622 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in United Natural Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,387,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new stake in United Natural Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,588,000. Finally, Towle & Co. purchased a new stake in United Natural Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at about $13,724,000. 87.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

United Natural Foods Company Profile

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.