US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) Short Interest Up 20.1% in April

US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,220,000 shares, a growth of 20.1% from the March 31st total of 6,010,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,700,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of US Foods from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of US Foods from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of US Foods from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of US Foods from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of US Foods from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $54.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David A. Rickard sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.52, for a total transaction of $2,626,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 148,561 shares in the company, valued at $7,802,423.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On US Foods

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of USFD. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of US Foods by 98.2% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,220,688 shares of the company's stock worth $418,711,000 after purchasing an additional 4,569,002 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in US Foods in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $108,316,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in US Foods in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $53,581,000. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC grew its stake in US Foods by 273.1% in the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 1,007,387 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,994,000 after buying an additional 737,381 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in US Foods in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $18,555,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.76% of the company's stock.

US Foods Stock Performance

Shares of US Foods stock traded up $0.43 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $50.68. 1,161,348 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,702,741. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.30. US Foods has a 12 month low of $35.66 and a 12 month high of $54.94. The company has a market capitalization of $12.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.58.

US Foods (NYSE:USFD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.64 by ($0.04). US Foods had a return on equity of 13.41% and a net margin of 1.42%. The company had revenue of $8.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.81 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that US Foods will post 2.9 earnings per share 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.