The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) Director Edward P. Garden Acquires 37,473 Shares

The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) Director Edward P. Garden bought 37,473 shares of Middleby stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of $148.40 per share, for a total transaction of $5,560,993.20. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,125,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $463,859,222.40. The trade was a 1.21% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Middleby Stock Performance

MIDD opened at $152.11 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $141.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $146.08. The company has a market capitalization of $8.16 billion, a PE ratio of 20.98 and a beta of 1.65. The Middleby Co. has a 1 year low of $118.41 and a 1 year high of $182.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 2.81 and a quick ratio of 1.70.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $906.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $941.46 million. Middleby had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 10.14%. Middleby’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Research analysts expect that The Middleby Co. will post 9.11 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Middleby

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MIDD. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Middleby by 116.7% during the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 169 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Middleby by 760.0% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 258 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Middleby by 41.1% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 398 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Middleby by 90.3% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 432 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Middleby in the 4th quarter worth about $71,000. 98.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Middleby from $188.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays boosted their target price on Middleby from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com cut Middleby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Middleby from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on Middleby from $200.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $168.14.

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.