US Foods (NYSE:USFD) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $85.22 and last traded at $85.0460, with a volume of 3611146 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $82.45.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on USFD. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of US Foods from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded US Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of US Foods in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays decreased their price objective on US Foods from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of US Foods in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, US Foods has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.50.

US Foods Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $18.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $75.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

US Foods (NYSE:USFD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $10.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.18 billion. US Foods had a return on equity of 17.71% and a net margin of 1.43%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. On average, analysts expect that US Foods Holding Corp. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other US Foods news, insider Steven Guberman sold 58,632 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.00, for a total transaction of $4,221,504.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 113,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,165,520. The trade was a 34.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of US Foods

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in USFD. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in US Foods by 323.5% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 38,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,951,000 after acquiring an additional 29,420 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in US Foods during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,195,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its holdings in US Foods by 12.4% in the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,207,416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,003,000 after buying an additional 354,747 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al lifted its position in US Foods by 55.1% during the third quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 48,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,732,000 after buying an additional 17,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of US Foods in the second quarter worth $3,324,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.76% of the company’s stock.

About US Foods

US Foods (NYSE: USFD) is a leading foodservice distributor in the United States that supplies a wide range of products and services to professional food operators. The company provides fresh, frozen and dry food items as well as non-food restaurant supplies and kitchen equipment. Its customer base includes independent restaurants, multi-unit chains, healthcare and senior living facilities, hospitality businesses, government and educational institutions, and other foodservice operators.

Beyond commodity and branded food products, US Foods offers value-added solutions designed to help customers run their businesses.