Amundi Boosts Stock Position in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD)

Amundi lifted its stake in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) by 43.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 371,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 112,855 shares during the period. Amundi’s holdings in Middleby were worth $50,037,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Middleby by 4,494.8% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,266,327 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $171,524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,767 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Middleby by 17.7% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,138,999 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $158,469,000 after purchasing an additional 171,634 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Middleby in the fourth quarter worth $11,312,000. Natixis Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Middleby in the third quarter worth $10,928,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Middleby during the third quarter worth about $4,486,000. 98.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on MIDD. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 price target (down previously from $170.00) on shares of Middleby in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Middleby from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Middleby from $192.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Middleby from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Middleby from $157.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $180.86.

Middleby Price Performance

Shares of Middleby stock opened at $152.13 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.98 and a beta of 1.72. The company has a fifty day moving average of $157.09 and a 200-day moving average of $144.60. The Middleby Co. has a 52-week low of $118.41 and a 52-week high of $182.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.81.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.38. Middleby had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 10.14%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $996.69 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that The Middleby Co. will post 9.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Middleby news, Director Chapin Sarah Palisi sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.51, for a total transaction of $81,755.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $999,209.61. This represents a 7.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.