Advisors Preferred LLC Makes New $3.64 Million Investment in United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE:UNFI)

Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new stake in United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE:UNFI) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 131,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,637,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of United Natural Foods by 66.5% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 931 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in United Natural Foods by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 15,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in United Natural Foods by 46.0% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 639 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in United Natural Foods by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 31,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $873,000 after acquiring an additional 834 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of United Natural Foods by 7.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 13,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 953 shares during the last quarter. 87.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on UNFI. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on United Natural Foods from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of United Natural Foods from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of United Natural Foods from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on United Natural Foods from $23.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of United Natural Foods in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, United Natural Foods has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.20.

United Natural Foods Price Performance

Shares of United Natural Foods stock opened at $29.73 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.32. United Natural Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.58 and a twelve month high of $32.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 10th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.18. The company had revenue of $7.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.61 billion. United Natural Foods had a positive return on equity of 1.27% and a negative net margin of 0.30%. The company’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.04) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that United Natural Foods, Inc. will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

United Natural Foods 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.