First Trust Advisors LP Sells 92,183 Shares of The Middleby Corporation $MIDD

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its position in The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD) by 95.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,903 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 92,183 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Middleby were worth $517,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Middleby by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,772,249 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $858,161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,902,957 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Middleby by 1,046.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,018,536 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $135,394,000 after buying an additional 929,688 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Middleby by 4,256.3% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 722,137 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $107,361,000 after buying an additional 705,560 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP acquired a new stake in shares of Middleby during the fourth quarter worth approximately $48,113,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Middleby by 260.0% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 419,936 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,822,000 after acquiring an additional 303,293 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MIDD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird downgraded Middleby from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. KeyCorp set a $152.00 target price on Middleby in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Middleby in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Middleby in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Middleby from $185.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.50.

Middleby Price Performance

Shares of MIDD stock opened at $119.99 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.15 and a beta of 1.32. The Middleby Corporation has a 12 month low of $110.82 and a 12 month high of $180.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $149.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.74.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The industrial products company reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $875.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $836.99 million. Middleby had a negative net margin of 11.46% and a positive return on equity of 15.94%. The company’s revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.35 EPS. Middleby has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.670-1.830 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 6.730-6.890 EPS. Research analysts expect that The Middleby Corporation will post 9.54 EPS for the current year.

Key Stories Impacting Middleby

Here are the key news stories impacting Middleby this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Middleby reported second-quarter adjusted EPS of $2.35, ahead of the $2.09 consensus estimate, while revenue of $875.5 million also exceeded expectations of $837.0 million. Commercial Foodservice revenue rose organically 8.3%. The Middleby Corporation Reports Second Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management said results exceeded the high end of its internal revenue and adjusted EBITDA outlook, raised its post-spin full-year guidance, repurchased 1.4 million shares during the quarter and 3.8 million year to date, and completed the separation of its Food Processing business into independently traded Midera. Middleby Q2 Revenue and Guidance
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts have a consensus price target of $169.50, implying considerable potential upside from recent trading levels, although the target may not yet reflect the company’s revised outlook. Middleby Consensus Price Target
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter EPS guidance of $1.67–$1.83 and revenue guidance of $620–$640 million were well below analyst estimates of $1.95 EPS and $696.6 million revenue. Full-year EPS guidance of $6.73–$6.89 also trailed the $8.48 consensus, while full-year revenue guidance of approximately $2.48–$2.53 billion was below the roughly $2.9 billion analyst forecast.
• Negative Sentiment: Although the adjusted earnings beat was strong, GAAP diluted EPS from continuing operations declined to $1.20 from $1.91 a year earlier, and net earnings from continuing operations fell to $54.2 million from $101.7 million. The mixed earnings quality and sharply below-consensus outlook likely outweighed the quarterly beat. Middleby Tops Q2 Estimates

Middleby Profile

Middleby Corporation is a global manufacturer and distributor of commercial foodservice and food processing equipment. The company designs, engineers and markets a wide range of cooking, baking, refrigeration, warewashing, holding and dispensing solutions. Middleby’s products serve restaurants, hotels, convenience stores, institutional cafeterias, cruise ships and other foodservice operators.

The company’s portfolio spans multiple well-known brands, including Blodgett ovens, TurboChef rapid?cook ovens, Southbend ranges and broilers, Pitco fryers, and Viking residential and commercial kitchen appliances.