Should Whole Foods be anxious?

Whole Foods Market (NYSE:WFM) had its price target decreased by Oppenheimer from $50.00 to $48.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports.

The concept for the new stores is to provide more moderately priced products through Whole Foods Market’s cheaper, in-house brand. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.60, for a total value of $187,440.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The stock had previously closed at $40.82. Traders punished the stock, with the price down more than 10% in early Thursday trading. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Whole Foods Market has a 12-month low of $35.52 and a 12-month high of $36.70.

Wedbush downgraded shares of Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFM) from an outperform rating to a neutral ratingin a report published onThursday, StockTargetPrices.com reports. However, the top line improved 7.6% year over year, despite soft comparable-store sales (comps) performance. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter past year. This number was $0.01 away from what analysts had predicted resulting with a surprise factor of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th.

In addition to temporary construction jobs, the Kirkland Whole Foods Market will create an estimated 150 long-term jobs in the community. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.08.

For the third quarter ended July 5, Whole Foods earned $154 million, or 43 cents a share.

Whole Foods seems to be relying on the launch of its new millennial-themed stores, called 365 by Whole Foods Market, for salvation.

Whole Foods, which specializes in delivering organic produce continues to face strong competition and aggressive pricing from key competitors including Wal-Mart (WMT), Costco (COST) and Kroger (KR) as they penetrate the organic food and beverage markets with offerings of their own. The group states that the program often promotes conventionally-grown food over certified organic.

Whole Foods now operates 424 stores in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom The company opened 8 new outlets during the reported quarter.

“If we get anything close to what Whole Foods Market sales per square foot are in our new stores, the 365 stores are going to be incredibly profitable, and with very high ROICs, even with reduced gross margins”. The offices of the Company are supported by its headquarters, regional offices, distribution centers, bakehouse facilities, commissary kitchens, seafood-processing facilities, make and meat procurement centers, and also a specialty coffee and tea procurement and roasting operation.