Analysts Set The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) Price Target at $180.86

Shares of The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $180.86.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MIDD shares. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Middleby from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com upgraded Middleby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Middleby from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Middleby from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Middleby from $157.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th.

Insider Activity at Middleby

In related news, Director Chapin Sarah Palisi sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.51, for a total transaction of $81,755.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $999,209.61. This represents a 7.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Middleby by 121.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 2,425 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in shares of Middleby during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $469,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of Middleby during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $219,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Middleby by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 22,929 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,106,000 after buying an additional 2,763 shares during the period. Finally, Olstein Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Middleby by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 71,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,617,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.55% of the company’s stock.

Middleby Price Performance

NASDAQ MIDD opened at $152.76 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $8.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07 and a beta of 1.72. Middleby has a 12 month low of $118.41 and a 12 month high of $182.73. The company’s 50 day moving average is $161.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $145.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $996.69 million. Middleby had a net margin of 10.14% and a return on equity of 14.66%. Middleby’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Middleby will post 9.11 earnings per share for the current 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.