EntryPoint Capital LLC Invests $286,000 in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD)

EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,111 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $286,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Middleby by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,260,935 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $712,594,000 after purchasing an additional 21,771 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Middleby by 4,494.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,266,327 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $171,524,000 after buying an additional 1,238,767 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Middleby by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 936,596 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $130,341,000 after acquiring an additional 8,926 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Middleby by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 654,641 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $88,671,000 after acquiring an additional 23,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Middleby by 43.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 371,854 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $50,037,000 after acquiring an additional 112,855 shares during the period. 98.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on MIDD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Middleby from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Middleby from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Middleby from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $160.00 price target (down previously from $170.00) on shares of Middleby in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Middleby from $157.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Middleby presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $180.86.

Middleby Price Performance

NASDAQ MIDD traded up $0.75 on Tuesday, reaching $152.73. 589,855 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 617,296. The Middleby Co. has a 12 month low of $118.41 and a 12 month high of $182.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $161.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $146.47. The company has a market cap of $8.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07 and a beta of 1.72.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.50 by $0.38. Middleby had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 10.14%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $996.69 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.65 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that The Middleby Co. will post 9.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Middleby

In other news, Director Chapin Sarah Palisi sold 500 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $999,209.61. This trade represents a 7.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.16% of the company's stock.

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.