Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Stake in United Natural Foods, Inc. $UNFI

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its position in United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE:UNFI) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,482,116 shares of the company’s stock after selling 86,211 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 12.36% of United Natural Foods worth $204,935,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in United Natural Foods by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,531,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,450,000 after purchasing an additional 314,587 shares in the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its stake in United Natural Foods by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 2,886,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,842,000 after purchasing an additional 110,608 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in United Natural Foods by 37.9% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 881,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,087,000 after buying an additional 242,293 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in United Natural Foods by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 756,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,662,000 after buying an additional 118,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its position in United Natural Foods by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 706,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,294,000 after buying an additional 134,841 shares in the last quarter. 87.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on UNFI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $24.00 price target on United Natural Foods and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised United Natural Foods from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Northcoast Research raised United Natural Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. UBS Group raised their price target on United Natural Foods from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on United Natural Foods from $32.00 to $25.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, United Natural Foods currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.13.

United Natural Foods Price Performance

Shares of United Natural Foods stock opened at $26.7080 on Wednesday. United Natural Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.05 and a twelve month high of $34.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.22 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $24.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.89.

United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 10th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.22. United Natural Foods had a positive return on equity of 3.13% and a negative net margin of 0.21%.The firm had revenue of $8.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. United Natural Foods has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.700-0.900 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that United Natural Foods, Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current year.

About United Natural Foods

United Natural Foods, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, distributes natural, organic, specialty, produce, and conventional grocery and non-food products in the United States and Canada. It operates in two segments, Wholesale and Retail. The company offers grocery and general merchandise, produce, perishables and frozen foods, wellness and personal care items, and bulk and foodservice products.