The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD) receives an average consensus rating of "Hold" from eight research firms, with two analysts suggesting a sell and five recommending a buy.
• The average 12-month price target for Middleby is set at $159.00, despite various revisions by analysts, including a downgrade from Wall Street Zen and price cuts from firms like Canaccord Genuity and JPMorgan Chase.
• For the last quarter, Middleby reported an EPS of $2.35, surpassing consensus estimates, but experienced a 1.4% decline in revenue compared to the previous year.

Shares of The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the eight research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $159.00.

A number of research firms have recently commented on MIDD. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Middleby from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of Middleby from $186.00 to $162.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. 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 research report on Thursday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Middleby from $145.00 to $125.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Middleby to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th.

Middleby Price Performance

MIDD opened at $130.40 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $141.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $146.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Middleby has a twelve month low of $118.09 and a twelve month high of $182.73. The company has a market capitalization of $6.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.59 and a beta of 1.58.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $977.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $979.59 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.39 earnings per share. Middleby's revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Middleby will post 9.11 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MIDD. Mariner LLC grew its position in Middleby by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 7,723 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,046,000 after acquiring an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Middleby in the 4th quarter worth approximately $231,000. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Middleby in the 4th quarter worth approximately $284,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Middleby in the 4th quarter worth approximately $420,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Middleby by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,247,671 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $169,000,000 after acquiring an additional 150,709 shares during the last quarter. 98.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.