Wall Street Zen Downgrades Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) to Hold

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued on Sunday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of Middleby from $200.00 to $186.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective 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, KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Middleby from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Middleby currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $166.00.

Middleby Stock Performance

Shares of Middleby stock traded up $0.09 on Friday, reaching $149.57. 1,031,909 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 754,241. Middleby has a 52 week low of $121.70 and a 52 week high of $182.73. The company has a 50 day moving average of $146.51 and a 200 day moving average of $148.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.02 billion, a PE ratio of 18.70 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.73.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.14. Middleby had a net margin of 11.26% and a return on equity of 14.47%. The firm had revenue of $906.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $941.46 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The company's revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Middleby will post 9.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Edward P. Garden acquired 249,339 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $149.59 per share, for a total transaction of $37,298,621.01. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,088,263 shares in the company, valued at $461,973,262.17. This represents a 8.78% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 640,968 shares of company stock valued at $93,495,270. 6.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Middleby

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of Middleby by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,472 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $470,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. increased its position in shares of Middleby by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 6,124 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $829,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in shares of Middleby by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 10,269 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,391,000 after acquiring an additional 1,773 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Middleby by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 654,641 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $88,671,000 after acquiring an additional 23,577 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Middleby in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,490,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.55% of the company's stock.

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.