Short Interest in The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD) Drops By 23.0%

The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD - Get Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totaling 2,950,000 shares, a drop of 23.0% from the July 31st total of 3,830,000 shares. Currently, 5.9% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 916,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Based on an average trading volume of 916,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Currently, 5.9% of the company's stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Middleby

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted 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 worth $460,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,931 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Middleby during the 1st quarter worth $29,733,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted 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 worth $87,920,000 after purchasing an additional 141,769 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Middleby by 21,915.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 136,934 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $20,811,000 after purchasing an additional 136,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Middleby during the 2nd quarter worth $19,285,000. 98.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on MIDD. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Middleby to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Middleby from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, July 20th. Wolfe Research set a $163.00 price objective on shares of Middleby and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Middleby from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Middleby from $145.00 to $125.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Middleby presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $161.13.

Middleby Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Middleby stock traded down $0.76 on Wednesday, reaching $137.92. The company had a trading volume of 491,496 shares, compared to its average volume of 811,555. Middleby has a 52-week low of $118.09 and a 52-week high of $182.73. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $139.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.51. The firm has a market cap of $6.99 billion, a PE ratio of 17.55 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 2.57.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm earned $2.39 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Middleby will post 9.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.