SG Americas Securities LLC Reduces Position in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD)

SG Americas Securities LLC lessened its stake in shares of The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) by 68.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,475 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 7,504 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Middleby were worth $483,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its stake in Middleby by 15.4% in the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 6,360,288 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $779,835,000 after acquiring an additional 846,884 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Middleby by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,113,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $822,165,000 after acquiring an additional 15,798 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in Middleby by 1.0% in the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,998,522 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $321,342,000 after acquiring an additional 20,511 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Middleby by 0.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,450,221 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $233,182,000 after acquiring an additional 11,552 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Middleby by 11,853.1% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 967,365 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $118,609,000 after acquiring an additional 959,272 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.55% of the company’s stock.

Middleby Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MIDD opened at $138.42 on Thursday. The Middleby Co. has a 1-year low of $109.59 and a 1-year high of $161.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.43. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $137.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $134.78. The company has a market capitalization of $7.44 billion, a PE ratio of 19.28 and a beta of 1.58.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.08. Middleby had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 9.90%. The firm had revenue of $991.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $994.05 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Middleby Co. will post 9.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MIDD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Middleby from $155.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Raymond James initiated coverage on Middleby in a research note on Friday, June 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Middleby in a report on Saturday, September 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Middleby from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Middleby in a report on Friday, September 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.71.

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.