Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) Now Covered by StockNews.com

Stock analysts at StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD – Get Rating) in a report released on Thursday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on MIDD. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Middleby from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 13th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Middleby from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Middleby from $162.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group started coverage on shares of Middleby in a research report on Wednesday, November 16th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Middleby from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Middleby has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.14.

Middleby Price Performance

Shares of MIDD stock traded down $4.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $133.82. The company had a trading volume of 1,225,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 530,400. Middleby has a 52-week low of $120.30 and a 52-week high of $175.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $151.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $141.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.81 and a beta of 1.52.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.11. Middleby had a net margin of 10.82% and a return on equity of 19.46%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.11 earnings per share. Middleby’s quarterly revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Middleby will post 9.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Chapin Sarah Palisi sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.39, for a total value of $47,217.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,181,369.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Middleby

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MIDD. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its position in shares of Middleby by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 27,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,670,000 after buying an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. CI Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Middleby during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $958,000. Utah Retirement Systems lifted its position in shares of Middleby by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 9,641 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,291,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of Middleby by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 8,659 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after buying an additional 2,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new position in Middleby in the 4th quarter valued at $459,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.48% of the company’s stock.

About Middleby

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The Middleby Corp. engages in the design, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of foodservice equipment. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Foodservice Equipment Group, Food Processing Equipment Group, Residential Kitchen Equipment Group, and Corporate and Other. The Commercial Foodservice Equipment Group segment manufactures, sells, and distributes foodservice equipment for the restaurant and institutional kitchen industry.