United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) Sets New 1-Year Low at $24.80

United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE:UNFI – Get Rating) shares reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $24.80 and last traded at $24.94, with a volume of 64155 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.69.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on UNFI shares. UBS Group downgraded shares of United Natural Foods from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $48.00 to $32.00 in a report on Monday. Northcoast Research downgraded shares of United Natural Foods from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of United Natural Foods from $40.00 to $28.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of United Natural Foods from $43.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 9th. Finally, Roth Mkm downgraded shares of United Natural Foods from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $63.00 to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.71.

United Natural Foods Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $39.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 1.56. The stock has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a PE ratio of 7.86 and a beta of 1.11.

United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 8th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.38 by ($0.60). The company had revenue of $7.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.77 billion. United Natural Foods had a net margin of 0.64% and a return on equity of 14.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that United Natural Foods, Inc. will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Richard Eric Esper sold 5,250 shares of United Natural Foods stock in a transaction on Monday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total value of $199,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,151,514. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Richard Eric Esper sold 5,250 shares of United Natural Foods stock in a transaction on Monday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total value of $199,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,151,514. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO John W. Howard sold 7,000 shares of United Natural Foods stock in a transaction on Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.62, for a total transaction of $298,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 117,648 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,014,157.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,681 shares of company stock worth $1,930,613 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On United Natural Foods

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of United Natural Foods by 1.5% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,197,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $316,114,000 after acquiring an additional 133,434 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of United Natural Foods by 8.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,135,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,064,000 after acquiring an additional 567,961 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of United Natural Foods by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,467,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,937,000 after acquiring an additional 249,130 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of United Natural Foods by 1.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,010,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,109,000 after acquiring an additional 22,094 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of United Natural Foods by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,740,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,387,000 after acquiring an additional 92,323 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

About United Natural Foods

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United Natural Foods, Inc engages in the distribution of natural, organic, and specialty foods and non-food products. The firm operates through the following segments: Wholesale and Retail. The Wholesale segment is engaged in the national distribution of natural, organic, specialty, produce, and conventional grocery and non-food products, and providing retail services in the United States and Canada.