Wall Street Zen Upgrades US Foods (NYSE:USFD) to Strong-Buy

US Foods (NYSE:USFD - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of US Foods from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of US Foods from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of US Foods from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of US Foods in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of US Foods from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, US Foods has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $75.92.

US Foods Stock Performance

USFD traded down $0.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $77.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 157,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,230,871. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. US Foods has a one year low of $50.05 and a one year high of $78.19. The firm has a market cap of $17.93 billion, a PE ratio of 38.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.35. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $67.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.31.

US Foods (NYSE:USFD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.69 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $9.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.42 billion. US Foods had a net margin of 1.30% and a return on equity of 15.03%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that US Foods will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other US Foods news, EVP Dirk J. Locascio sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,125,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 115,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,630,775. This trade represents a 11.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of US Foods

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of USFD. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in US Foods in the first quarter valued at approximately $23,429,000. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in shares of US Foods by 5.2% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 79,217 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,186,000 after purchasing an additional 3,909 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of US Foods by 3.9% during the first quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,096 shares of the company's stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in US Foods by 24.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 989,406 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,767,000 after acquiring an additional 194,158 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in US Foods in the first quarter valued at about $359,000. Institutional investors own 98.76% of the company's stock.

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.