Natixis Advisors LLC Acquires 10,396 Shares of The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD)

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD - Free Report) by 13.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 88,941 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 10,396 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.17% of Middleby worth $12,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Middleby by 4,494.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,266,327 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $171,524,000 after buying an additional 1,238,767 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Middleby by 17.7% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,138,999 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $158,469,000 after buying an additional 171,634 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Middleby by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 936,596 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $130,341,000 after buying an additional 8,926 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in Middleby by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 371,854 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $50,037,000 after buying an additional 112,855 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Middleby by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 348,223 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $47,167,000 after buying an additional 3,832 shares during the last quarter. 98.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Remove Ads

Middleby Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MIDD traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $154.41. 1,956,109 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 604,336. The company has a market cap of $8.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.30 and a beta of 1.72. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $159.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $145.22. 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 twelve month low of $118.41 and a twelve month high of $182.73.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that The Middleby Co. will post 9.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MIDD. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Middleby from $157.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Middleby from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Middleby from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Middleby from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Middleby from $192.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $180.86.

Insider Activity at Middleby

In related news, Director Chapin Sarah Palisi sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.51, for a total value of $81,755.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $999,209.61. This trade represents a 7.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.