Edward P. Garden Acquires 37,473 Shares of The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) Stock

The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD - Get Free Report) Director Edward P. Garden purchased 37,473 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $148.40 per share, with a total value of $5,560,993.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,125,736 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $463,859,222.40. This represents a 1.21% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Middleby Stock Performance

MIDD stock traded down $1.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $145.79. The company had a trading volume of 543,432 shares, compared to its average volume of 715,212. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.11 and a beta of 1.65. The Middleby Co. has a one year low of $118.41 and a one year high of $182.73. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $140.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $146.22.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $906.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $941.46 million. Middleby had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 10.14%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that The Middleby Co. will post 9.11 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MIDD. Barclays raised their price objective on Middleby from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen cut Middleby from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Middleby from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Middleby from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Middleby from $188.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Middleby currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $168.14.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MIDD. TCTC Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Middleby by 116.7% during the first quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 169 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Middleby by 760.0% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 258 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Middleby by 90.3% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 432 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Middleby during the fourth quarter valued at $71,000. 98.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.