Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Takes $420,000 Position in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,100 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $420,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Middleby by 4,494.8% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,266,327 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $171,524,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,767 shares during the last quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Middleby in the fourth quarter worth $91,869,000. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC bought a new stake in shares of Middleby in the fourth quarter valued at $26,930,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Middleby during the 4th quarter valued at $20,189,000. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of Middleby by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 371,854 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $50,037,000 after acquiring an additional 112,855 shares during the period. 98.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Middleby Price Performance

NASDAQ MIDD traded up $1.37 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $134.72. 178,981 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 685,350. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $145.44. The Middleby Co. has a 1 year low of $118.41 and a 1 year high of $182.73. The company has a market cap of $7.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60 and a beta of 1.44.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MIDD has been the topic of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Middleby from $157.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Middleby from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Middleby from $192.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com lowered Middleby from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $179.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Middleby news, Director Chapin Sarah Palisi sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.51, for a total transaction of $81,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $999,209.61. This represents a 7.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 6.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Middleby 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.