California State Teachers Retirement System Cuts Stock Holdings in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD)

California State Teachers Retirement System reduced its position in shares of The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,273 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 857 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.09% of Middleby worth $6,809,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in Middleby during the fourth quarter worth about $469,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Middleby by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 22,929 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,106,000 after purchasing an additional 2,763 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP raised its holdings in Middleby by 281.3% during the fourth quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 6,864 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $930,000 after purchasing an additional 5,064 shares in the last quarter. Regents Gate Capital LLP purchased a new position in Middleby during the fourth quarter worth about $3,588,000. Finally, Garden Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in Middleby during the fourth quarter worth about $101,958,000. 98.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Middleby

In other Middleby news, Director Edward P. Garden acquired 249,339 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $149.59 per share, with a total value of $37,298,621.01. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,088,263 shares in the company, valued at approximately $461,973,262.17. This trade represents a 8.78% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders acquired a total of 640,968 shares of company stock valued at $93,495,270 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MIDD shares. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Middleby from $200.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Middleby from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Middleby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Middleby from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Middleby from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.14.

Middleby Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of MIDD opened at $146.68 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 2.81 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $139.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $146.61. The Middleby Co. has a 1-year low of $118.41 and a 1-year high of $182.73. The stock has a market cap of $7.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.23 and a beta of 1.65.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $941.46 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $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.

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.