Brokerages Set The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) PT at $154.67

The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four 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 $154.67.

MIDD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 price objective (down from $170.00) on shares of Middleby in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised Middleby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of Middleby in a report on Friday, December 20th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Select Equity Group L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Middleby by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 6,360,288 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $779,835,000 after buying an additional 846,884 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Middleby by 17.7% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,138,999 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $158,469,000 after purchasing an additional 171,634 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Middleby by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 936,596 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $130,341,000 after purchasing an additional 8,926 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Middleby by 43.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 903,346 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $110,768,000 after purchasing an additional 274,513 shares during the period. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC grew its holdings in Middleby by 58.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 510,127 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $62,547,000 after purchasing an additional 187,304 shares in the last quarter. 98.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Middleby Stock Performance

NASDAQ MIDD opened at $134.50 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $7.24 billion, a PE ratio of 18.55 and a beta of 1.61. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $138.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.81. Middleby has a twelve month low of $118.41 and a twelve month high of $161.01.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.48 by ($0.15). Middleby had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 10.14%. The company had revenue of $942.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $996.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.35 earnings per share. Middleby’s revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Middleby will post 9.13 earnings per share for the current 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.