StockNews.com Downgrades US Foods (NYSE:USFD) to Buy

US Foods (NYSE:USFD) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

USFD has been the subject of a number of other reports. Melius Research upgraded US Foods to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays increased their price objective on US Foods from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on US Foods from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on US Foods from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on US Foods from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.33.

US Foods Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE:USFD opened at $65.50 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $69.13 and a 200-day moving average of $65.93. The company has a market capitalization of $15.09 billion, a PE ratio of 32.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.21. US Foods has a 52-week low of $49.65 and a 52-week high of $73.19.

US Foods (NYSE:USFD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $9.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.47 billion. US Foods had a return on equity of 15.03% and a net margin of 1.30%. On average, equities analysts predict that US Foods will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other US Foods news, Director David W. Bullock bought 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $71.06 per share, for a total transaction of $284,240.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $319,770. The trade was a 800.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On US Foods

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in USFD. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of US Foods in the 4th quarter worth about $211,300,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of US Foods in the 4th quarter worth about $171,107,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in US Foods by 100.2% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $369,000 after buying an additional 2,500,000 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in US Foods by 25.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,106,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $744,548,000 after buying an additional 2,435,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in US Foods in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,611,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.76% of the company’s stock.

About US Foods

US Foods Holding Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in marketing, sale, and distribution of fresh, frozen, and dry food and non-food products to foodservice customers in the United States. The company's customers include independently owned single and multi-unit restaurants, regional concepts, national restaurant chains, hospitals, nursing homes, hotels and motels, country clubs, government and military organizations, colleges and universities, and retail locations.