United Services Automobile Association Acquires Shares of 3,560 The Middleby Corporation $MIDD

Key Points

• United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in The Middleby Corporation, purchasing 3,560 shares valued at approximately $544,000.
• During the 1st quarter, several hedge funds and institutional investors increased their positions in Middleby significantly, with Price T Rowe Associates boosting its holdings by 59.8%.
• The company reported earnings of $2.35 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' estimates, although its revenue decreased by 1.4% year-over-year.

United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in shares of The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,560 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $544,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Middleby by 59.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,029,484 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $460,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,931 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Middleby by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,866,359 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $252,798,000 after purchasing an additional 53,276 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Middleby by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,319,757 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $200,577,000 after purchasing an additional 7,791 shares during the period. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Middleby by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 688,560 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $104,647,000 after purchasing an additional 10,310 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of Middleby by 32.5% during the 1st quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 578,496 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $87,920,000 after purchasing an additional 141,769 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.55% of the company's stock.

Middleby Price Performance

Shares of Middleby stock traded down $0.63 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $133.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 135,488 shares, compared to its average volume of 900,365. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $139.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $142.77. The Middleby Corporation has a one year low of $118.09 and a one year 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 stock has a market cap of $6.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.00 and a beta of 1.54.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MIDD has been the topic of a number of research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Middleby from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Middleby to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Middleby from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, July 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Middleby from $145.00 to $125.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $163.00 price target on shares of Middleby and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Middleby currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $160.71.

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.