Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Stock Position in United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE:UNFI)

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 18th, 2023

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE:UNFI – Get Rating) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,314 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in United Natural Foods were worth $206,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its holdings in United Natural Foods by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 19,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $661,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its holdings in United Natural Foods by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $153,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the period. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in United Natural Foods by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in United Natural Foods by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 21,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $838,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the period. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its stake in United Natural Foods by 0.7% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 59,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,451,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.63% of the company’s stock.

United Natural Foods Stock Up 4.0 %

United Natural Foods stock opened at $27.54 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.86 and a beta of 1.05. United Natural Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.07 and a 52 week high of $49.56. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $26.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 8th. The company reported $0.78 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $7.77 billion. United Natural Foods had a return on equity of 14.45% and a net margin of 0.64%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that United Natural Foods, Inc. will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on UNFI. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on United Natural Foods from $40.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 9th. UBS Group downgraded United Natural Foods from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $32.00 in a report on Monday, March 13th. Northcoast Research downgraded United Natural Foods from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 10th. StockNews.com began coverage on United Natural Foods in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on United Natural Foods from $41.00 to $35.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 9th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.71.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO J Alexander Douglas, Jr. bought 45,168 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $22.22 per share, for a total transaction of $1,003,632.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 150,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,353,797.92. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

United Natural Foods Profile

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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.