T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Makes New $387,000 Investment in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,853 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $387,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Middleby by 41.1% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 398 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Middleby in the 4th quarter valued at $71,000. Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Middleby by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Middleby by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 622 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Middleby by 73.2% in the fourth quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 710 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Middleby from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Middleby from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Middleby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Middleby from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Middleby from $157.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Middleby currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $179.43.

Middleby Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ MIDD opened at $130.82 on Monday. The Middleby Co. has a 12 month low of $118.41 and a 12 month high of $182.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.02 billion, a PE ratio of 18.04 and a beta of 1.44. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $148.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $145.63.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $996.69 million. Middleby had a net margin of 10.14% and a return on equity of 14.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.65 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Middleby Co. will post 9.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Chapin Sarah Palisi sold 500 shares of Middleby stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.51, for a total value of $81,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $999,209.61. This trade represents a 7.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 6.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Middleby

The Middleby Corporation designs, markets, manufactures, distributes, and services foodservice, food processing, and residential kitchen equipment worldwide. Its Commercial Foodservice Equipment Group segment offers conveyor, combi, convection, baking, proofing, deck, speed cooking, and hydrovection ovens; ranges, fryers, and rethermalizers; steam cooking, food warming, catering, induction cooking, and countertop cooking equipment; heated cabinets, charbroilers, ventless cooking systems, kitchen ventilation, toasters, griddles, charcoal grills, professional mixers, stainless steel fabrication, custom millwork, professional refrigerators, blast chillers, cold rooms, ice machines, and freezers; soft serve ice cream, coffee and beverage dispensing, home and professional craft brewing equipment; and fry dispensers, bottle filling and canning equipment, IoT solutions, and controls development and manufacturing.