Edward P. Garden Acquires 13,477 Shares of The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) Stock

The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) Director Edward P. Garden acquired 13,477 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $149.23 per share, with a total value of $2,011,172.71. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,139,213 shares in the company, valued at $468,464,755.99. This trade represents a 0.43% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Middleby Price Performance

Shares of MIDD opened at $151.49 on Friday. The Middleby Co. has a twelve month low of $118.41 and a twelve month high of $182.73. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $141.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $145.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.14. Middleby had a net margin of 10.14% and a return on equity of 14.66%. The business had revenue of $906.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $941.46 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that The Middleby Co. will post 9.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Middleby

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MIDD. TCTC Holdings LLC raised its stake in Middleby by 116.7% during the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 169 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Middleby by 760.0% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 258 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Middleby by 41.1% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 398 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Middleby by 90.3% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 432 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Middleby during the 4th quarter worth $71,000. 98.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MIDD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of Middleby from $200.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Middleby from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Middleby from $188.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Middleby from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Middleby from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Middleby has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.14.

Middleby Company Profile

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.