Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) by 377.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 59,864 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 47,334 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in US Foods were worth $4,038,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in US Foods by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 348,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,462,000 after buying an additional 17,897 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of US Foods by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,045,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $433,299,000 after purchasing an additional 316,061 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of US Foods by 121.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 51,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,164,000 after purchasing an additional 28,232 shares during the last quarter. Longbow Finance SA bought a new position in shares of US Foods during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,001,000. Finally, Jag Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of US Foods by 3,175.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 169,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,407,000 after purchasing an additional 164,060 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.76% of the company’s stock.

US Foods Trading Down 2.5 %

USFD opened at $68.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $15.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.65. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $69.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.55. US Foods Holding Corp. has a one year low of $49.65 and a one year high of $73.19. 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 (NYSE:USFD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.01). US Foods had a return on equity of 15.03% and a net margin of 1.30%. The business had revenue of $9.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.47 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that US Foods Holding Corp. will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other US Foods news, Director David W. Bullock bought 4,000 shares of US Foods stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $71.06 per share, for a total transaction of $284,240.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $319,770. This trade represents a 800.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on USFD. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of US Foods from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Melius Research raised shares of US Foods to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of US Foods from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of US Foods from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of US Foods from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.33.

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.