United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE:UNFI)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company upgraded the stock from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating. The stock had previously closed at $43.56, but opened at $44.83. Wells Fargo & Company now has a $56.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $40.00. United Natural Foods shares last traded at $47.0180, with a volume of 403,931 shares traded.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on UNFI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on United Natural Foods from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of United Natural Foods in a research note on Friday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of United Natural Foods from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Roth Mkm restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of United Natural Foods in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of United Natural Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.63.

Insider Activity at United Natural Foods

In other United Natural Foods news, Director James C. Pappas purchased 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $33.30 per share, for a total transaction of $66,600.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 194,178 shares in the company, valued at $6,466,127.40. This represents a 1.04% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On United Natural Foods

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of United Natural Foods by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of United Natural Foods by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 13,894 shares of the company’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Optimize Financial Inc lifted its stake in shares of United Natural Foods by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Optimize Financial Inc now owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $706,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Arax Advisory Partners boosted its holdings in United Natural Foods by 37.4% during the fourth quarter. Arax Advisory Partners now owns 1,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC boosted its holdings in United Natural Foods by 1.1% during the third quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC now owns 28,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,089,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.63% of the company’s stock.

United Natural Foods Stock Up 6.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.55. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.81 and a beta of 1.00.

United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 10th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $7.95 billion during 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 for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. United Natural Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.300-2.700 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that United Natural Foods, Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.