IMC Chicago LLC Buys Shares of 26,770 The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD)

IMC Chicago LLC acquired a new position in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 26,770 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $4,069,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MIDD. Garden Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Middleby during the 4th quarter valued at $101,958,000. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Middleby by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,517 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $341,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP increased its holdings in shares of Middleby by 281.3% in the fourth quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 6,864 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $930,000 after buying an additional 5,064 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Middleby by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,260,935 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $712,594,000 after buying an additional 21,771 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Middleby by 111.1% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,217 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $571,000 after acquiring an additional 2,219 shares during the last quarter. 98.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MIDD has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Middleby from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of 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 shares of Middleby from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Middleby from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $168.14.

Middleby Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:MIDD traded down $2.69 on Friday, hitting $141.19. The company had a trading volume of 791,098 shares, compared to its average volume of 723,386. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $140.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $147.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.47 and a beta of 1.61. 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 Middleby Co. has a 1 year low of $118.41 and a 1 year high of $182.73.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $941.46 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Middleby's quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that The Middleby Co. will post 9.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Edward P. Garden acquired 621 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $149.62 per share, for a total transaction of $92,914.02. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,139,834 shares in the company, valued at $469,781,963.08. This trade represents a 0.02% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders bought a total of 640,968 shares of company stock worth $93,495,270 in the last quarter. 6.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.