First Horizon Advisors Inc. Sells 72 Shares of The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 325 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 72 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Middleby were worth $45,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MIDD. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Middleby by 11,853.1% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 967,365 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $118,609,000 after purchasing an additional 959,272 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its stake in Middleby by 15.4% in the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 6,360,288 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $779,835,000 after buying an additional 846,884 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Middleby by 43.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 903,346 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $110,768,000 after buying an additional 274,513 shares in the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Middleby by 58.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 510,127 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $62,547,000 after acquiring an additional 187,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Middleby by 30.6% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 713,618 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $87,497,000 after acquiring an additional 167,298 shares during the period. 98.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Middleby from $155.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Middleby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Middleby in a report on Saturday, September 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Middleby from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on Middleby from $164.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.67.

Middleby Price Performance

Middleby stock opened at $142.16 on Monday. The Middleby Co. has a one year low of $118.41 and a one year high of $161.01. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $137.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $133.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 2.81 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.61 and a beta of 1.58.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.48 by ($0.15). Middleby had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 10.14%. The company had revenue of $942.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $996.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Middleby Co. will post 9.2 EPS for the current year.

Middleby Profile

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.