First Trust Advisors LP Has $19.15 Million Stock Position in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD)

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its holdings in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD - Free Report) by 20.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 141,377 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 36,461 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.26% of Middleby worth $19,149,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Middleby by 0.4% in the fourth 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. increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,238,767 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Middleby by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 985,090 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $133,430,000 after purchasing an additional 23,478 shares during the period. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Middleby in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $91,869,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 23,577 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.55% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Middleby

In related news, Director Chapin Sarah Palisi sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 6,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $999,209.61. The trade was a 7.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 6.18% of the company's stock.

Middleby Stock Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ MIDD traded up $2.20 on Tuesday, reaching $132.78. The stock had a trading volume of 770,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 686,603. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $146.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $145.52. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The Middleby Co. has a 1 year low of $118.41 and a 1 year high of $182.73. The company has a market capitalization of $7.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.31 and a beta of 1.44.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on MIDD. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Middleby from $192.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Middleby from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays boosted their target price on Middleby from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. KeyCorp cut their target price 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, StockNews.com lowered Middleby from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $179.43.

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.