The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $154.67.

MIDD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of Middleby in a research note on Saturday, September 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on Middleby from $164.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Middleby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective (down previously from $170.00) on shares of Middleby in a research note on Thursday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Middleby

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MIDD. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Middleby by 11,853.1% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 967,365 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $118,609,000 after buying an additional 959,272 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 846,884 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Middleby by 43.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 903,346 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $110,768,000 after purchasing an additional 274,513 shares in the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC lifted its position in Middleby by 58.0% during the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 510,127 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $62,547,000 after acquiring an additional 187,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Middleby by 30.6% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 713,618 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $87,497,000 after purchasing an additional 167,298 shares in the last quarter. 98.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Middleby Price Performance

Shares of MIDD opened at $138.75 on Friday. Middleby has a fifty-two week low of $118.41 and a fifty-two week high of $161.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.81. The stock has a market cap of $7.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.14 and a beta of 1.60. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $138.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $134.36.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $942.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $996.60 million. Middleby had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 10.14%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.35 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Middleby will post 9.12 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.