United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Shares of United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE:UNFI) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $49.52 and last traded at $49.4420, with a volume of 49934 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $48.90.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNFI has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of United Natural Foods in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered United Natural Foods from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on United Natural Foods from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Zacks Research lowered United Natural Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded United Natural Foods from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $56.00 in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, United Natural Foods presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.63.

United Natural Foods Stock Up 1.2%

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $41.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.43. The company has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.08 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 10th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.11. United Natural Foods had a negative net margin of 0.25% and a positive return on equity of 6.05%. The business had revenue of $7.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.22 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. United Natural Foods has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.300-2.700 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that United Natural Foods, Inc. will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On United Natural Foods

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of UNFI. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of United Natural Foods by 155.1% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,732,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,047,000 after buying an additional 1,053,081 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in United Natural Foods by 721.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 615,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,170,000 after acquiring an additional 540,897 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in United Natural Foods in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,885,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of United Natural Foods by 40.4% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,300,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,922,000 after purchasing an additional 374,487 shares during the period. Finally, Towle & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of United Natural Foods during the third quarter valued at approximately $13,724,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.63% of the company’s stock.

About United Natural Foods

United Natural Foods, Inc (NYSE: UNFI) is a leading distributor of natural, organic and specialty foods in North America. Founded in 1976 and headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, the company has grown through strategic acquisitions and organic expansion to become one of the largest food distributors serving retail, foodservice and e-commerce customers.

UNFI’s core business centers on the procurement, warehousing and distribution of a broad portfolio of products, including fresh produce, groceries, frozen foods, dairy, bakery items, beverages, supplements and household essentials.