Congress Asset Management Co. Makes New Investment in US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD)

Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new position in US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,970,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $121,196,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in US Foods by 46.0% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,550,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,069,000 after acquiring an additional 2,064,321 shares in the last quarter. Interval Partners LP increased its position in shares of US Foods by 371.2% during the second quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 1,866,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,470,630 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of US Foods by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,019,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,242,336,000 after acquiring an additional 796,434 shares in the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of US Foods by 175.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 1,090,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,764,000 after purchasing an additional 694,999 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of US Foods by 14.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,528,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,940,000 after acquiring an additional 567,601 shares during the period. 98.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at US Foods

In related news, CFO Dirk J. Locascio sold 10,000 shares of US Foods stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.95, for a total value of $579,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,132,225.85. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

US Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE USFD traded up $0.44 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $62.15. 60,923 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,783,829. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.29. US Foods Holding Corp. has a 1-year low of $37.51 and a 1-year high of $63.13. The company has a market cap of $15.28 billion, a PE ratio of 30.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.66. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.59.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.93. The firm had revenue of $9.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.62 billion. US Foods had a net margin of 1.42% and a return on equity of 13.43%. The company’s revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that US Foods Holding Corp. will post 2.9 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on USFD shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on US Foods from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on US Foods from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of US Foods from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com raised US Foods from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of US Foods from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, US Foods currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.82.

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.