Shares in Whole Foods jumped by nearly 10 percent after the public announcement to the commission to close at $34.17 on Monday.

In recent years, Whole Foods has been criticized by Wall Street for its poor share price performance, and passed over by shoppers who have turned to competitors including Costco, Safeway and even Walmart, all of which are now offering similar products for lower prices.

“It went from being a darling of Wall Street and so culturally important that it was parodied on ‘The Simpsons,’” said Joe Dobrow, the author of “Natural Prophets,” a book about the history of health foods. In one “Simpsons” episode, Homer walks into a store that looks like Whole Foods and complains about the lack of sodas and chips and the high cost of the products.

“What’s happened in the natural food sector is that the world has changed very fast around it,” Mr. Dobrow said. “Now there isn’t very much that is unique to Whole Foods anymore.”

In November, it announced plans to get rid of a dual chief executive structure and reported an annual drop in comparable sales for the first time since 2009. Walter Robb stepped down as co-chief executive in December but remains on the board of directors.

“Whole Foods Market is not a well-run, modern day retailer at the moment,” analysts at Credit Suisse wrote in a note to investors on Monday, responding to Jana’s investment in the company.

“Our biggest criticism is that management has not moved fast enough to reposition the company,” the analysts said, adding that there was still a lot of uncertainty around the succession of top management. They noted that one way to fix some of the problems would be for Whole Foods to sell itself.