US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) Receives $79.82 Average Price Target from Analysts

Key Points

• US Foods Holding Corp. has received a consensus rating of "Buy" from twelve research firms, with an average 12-month price target of $79.82.
• The company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings with $1.19 earnings per share, beating estimates by $0.05, despite revenue falling short of expectations at $10.08 billion.
• Recent institutional investors have increased their stakes significantly, with Envestnet Asset Management growing its holdings by 13.2% during the fourth quarter.

US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Buy" by the twelve analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.5455.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on USFD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on US Foods from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Guggenheim set a $88.00 price objective on US Foods and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised US Foods from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $89.00 price target (up from $84.00) on shares of US Foods in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on US Foods from $84.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Dirk J. Locascio sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 115,077 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,630,775. This trade represents a 11.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in USFD. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in US Foods by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 348,368 shares of the company's stock valued at $23,501,000 after buying an additional 40,751 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in US Foods by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 35,413 shares of the company's stock worth $2,296,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in US Foods by 164.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 176,595 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,913,000 after purchasing an additional 109,747 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in US Foods by 89.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 33,980 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,292,000 after buying an additional 16,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of US Foods in the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,611,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.76% of the company's stock.

US Foods Stock Performance

Shares of USFD traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $78.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,068,368 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,258,555. The stock has a market cap of $18.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.74, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.44. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. US Foods has a 1-year low of $52.28 and a 1-year high of $85.11.

US Foods (NYSE:USFD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $10.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.17 billion. US Foods had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 1.43%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.93 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that US Foods will post 3.59 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.