The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $154.67.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MIDD shares. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Middleby in a report on Saturday, September 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 target price (down previously from $170.00) on shares of Middleby in a research report on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Middleby from $164.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Middleby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th.

Institutional Trading of Middleby

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Middleby during the third quarter valued at approximately $891,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Middleby in the third quarter valued at approximately $639,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in Middleby during the 3rd quarter valued at $88,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Middleby by 1.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Middleby in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $200,000. 98.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Middleby Price Performance

MIDD stock opened at $138.75 on Friday. 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 has a 1 year low of $118.41 and a 1 year high of $161.01. The stock has a market cap of $7.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.14 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $138.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $134.36.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $942.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $996.60 million. Middleby had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 10.14%. Middleby’s revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.35 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Middleby will post 9.12 EPS 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.