Here is What Hedge Funds Think About United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI)

Now, key hedge funds have jumped into United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI) headfirst. Sheffield Asset Management, managed by Craig C. Albert, created the largest position in United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI). Sheffield Asset Management had $39.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Richard Mashaal’s Rima Senvest Management also made a $32 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new UNFI positions are Douglas Dillard Jr. and Raj D. Venkatesan’s Standard Pacific Capital, Mark Coe’s Coe Capital Management, and Sahm Adrangi’s Kerrisdale Capital.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI) but similarly valued. These stocks are Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI), Tech Data Corp (NASDAQ:TECD), AMAYA INC (NASDAQ:AYA), and Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCSG). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to UNFI’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 19.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $353 million. That figure was $201 million in UNFI’s case. Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCSG) is the least popular one with only 5 bullish hedge fund positions. United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard SBGI might be a better candidate to consider a long position.