United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE:UNFI) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $19.80, but opened at $20.85. United Natural Foods shares last traded at $20.36, with a volume of 118,420 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on United Natural Foods from $16.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of United Natural Foods from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on United Natural Foods from $14.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Northcoast Research upgraded United Natural Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of United Natural Foods from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, United Natural Foods currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.40.

United Natural Foods Trading Up 1.5 %

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.48 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.09. The company had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.94 billion. United Natural Foods had a negative net margin of 0.36% and a positive return on equity of 0.54%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that United Natural Foods, Inc. will post 0.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Danielle Benedict sold 15,152 shares of United Natural Foods stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.78, for a total value of $299,706.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 100,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,986,366.94. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of UNFI. Private Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in United Natural Foods by 49.5% in the 2nd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 1,773,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,235,000 after purchasing an additional 587,163 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of United Natural Foods by 4.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,587,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,175,000 after buying an additional 321,020 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in United Natural Foods by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,267,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,601,000 after acquiring an additional 237,496 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of United Natural Foods during the 1st quarter valued at $2,317,000. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of United Natural Foods during the 1st quarter worth $1,655,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.63% of the company’s stock.

United Natural Foods Company Profile

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.