Cetera Investment Advisers Purchases 3,075 Shares of The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD)

Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD - Free Report) by 100.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,127 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,075 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Middleby were worth $931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Middleby by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,517 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $341,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Garden Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Middleby in the 4th quarter valued at about $101,958,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Middleby during the 1st quarter worth about $2,283,000. IMC Chicago LLC bought a new stake in shares of Middleby during the 1st quarter worth about $4,069,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Middleby during the 4th quarter worth about $1,621,000. Institutional investors own 98.55% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Middleby news, Director Edward P. Garden acquired 137,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $148.03 per share, with a total value of $20,280,110.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 3,276,834 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $485,069,737.02. This represents a 4.36% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 6.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Middleby from $145.00 to $125.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on shares of Middleby from $186.00 to $162.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Middleby from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, July 20th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Middleby from $188.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Middleby to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $159.00.

Middleby Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of MIDD traded down $1.62 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $132.61. 740,245 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,222,244. The Middleby Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $118.09 and a fifty-two week high of $182.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.57 and a quick ratio of 1.56. The business has a 50-day moving average of $142.74 and a 200-day moving average of $147.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.87 and a beta of 1.58.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $977.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $979.59 million. Middleby had a net margin of 11.06% and a return on equity of 14.14%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.39 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that The Middleby Corporation will post 9.11 EPS for the current year.

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.