New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Takes $257,000 Position in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,901 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $257,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Middleby by 121.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,423 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $615,000 after purchasing an additional 2,425 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in Middleby in the 4th quarter worth $469,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in Middleby in the 4th quarter valued at about $219,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Middleby by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 22,929 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $3,106,000 after buying an additional 2,763 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Olstein Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Middleby by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 71,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $9,617,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.55% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Middleby news, Director Chapin Sarah Palisi sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 directly owns 6,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $999,209.61. The trade was a 7.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MIDD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Middleby from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Middleby from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Middleby from $157.00 to $227.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and set a $160.00 price objective (down from $170.00) on shares of Middleby in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Middleby from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $180.86.

Middleby Stock Performance

Shares of Middleby stock traded down $6.71 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $135.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,346,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 624,501. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.81. The Middleby Co. has a one year low of $118.41 and a one year high of $182.73. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $161.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $146.49. The stock has a market cap of $7.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.68 and a beta of 1.72.

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. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $996.69 million. Middleby had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 10.14%. Middleby's quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that The Middleby Co. will post 9.11 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.