Short Interest in US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) Decreases By 42.9%

US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) saw a significant decline in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,190,000 shares, a decline of 42.9% from the September 15th total of 5,590,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,910,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

US Foods Trading Up 0.4 %

USFD traded up $0.24 during trading on Friday, reaching $60.89. The company had a trading volume of 332,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,817,689. The stock has a market cap of $14.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.88, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.69. US Foods has a 52 week low of $35.66 and a 52 week high of $62.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

US Foods (NYSE:USFD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93. US Foods had a return on equity of 13.43% and a net margin of 1.42%. The business had revenue of $9.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that US Foods will post 2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at US Foods

In other US Foods news, CFO Dirk J. Locascio sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.95, for a total value of $579,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,563 shares in the company, valued at $5,132,225.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in USFD. Mendota Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in US Foods during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $91,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of US Foods by 364.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of US Foods by 80.7% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $454,000 after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its stake in US Foods by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 529,338 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,554,000 after acquiring an additional 67,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in US Foods by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 778 shares during the period. 98.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on USFD shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on US Foods from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com upgraded US Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of US Foods from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on US Foods from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of US Foods from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $66.82.

US Foods Company Profile

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.