United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report released on Tuesday.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on UNFI. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of United Natural Foods from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. CL King upgraded United Natural Foods from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on United Natural Foods from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $27.50.

United Natural Foods Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of UNFI stock traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $24.63. 698,951 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 706,551. United Natural Foods has a 52-week low of $8.58 and a 52-week high of $34.76. The stock has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.69 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The stock's fifty day moving average is $27.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.96.

United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 11th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.04. United Natural Foods had a negative net margin of 0.30% and a positive return on equity of 1.27%. The business had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.07 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that United Natural Foods will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On United Natural Foods

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in United Natural Foods in the fourth quarter valued at $324,000. Amundi raised its position in United Natural Foods by 368.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 62,830 shares of the company's stock worth $1,813,000 after acquiring an additional 49,427 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in United Natural Foods by 1.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,383,733 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,094,000 after purchasing an additional 34,522 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of United Natural Foods by 118.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 177,937 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,993,000 after purchasing an additional 96,341 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of United Natural Foods during the fourth quarter worth about $656,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.63% of the company's stock.

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.