First Horizon Advisors Inc. Reduces Stake in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in shares of The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) by 18.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 325 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 72 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Middleby were worth $45,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Middleby in the third quarter worth about $2,129,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Middleby by 820.0% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 322 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Middleby during the 3rd quarter valued at about $211,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in Middleby by 142,460.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 7,128 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $992,000 after purchasing an additional 7,123 shares during the period. Finally, S&CO Inc. increased its position in Middleby by 0.3% during the third quarter. S&CO Inc. now owns 66,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,297,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 98.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Middleby Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of MIDD opened at $142.16 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $137.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $133.32. The company has a market cap of $7.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.61 and a beta of 1.58. 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 twelve month low of $118.41 and a twelve month high of $161.01.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by ($0.15). Middleby had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 10.14%. The firm had revenue of $942.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $996.60 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that The Middleby Co. will post 9.2 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MIDD. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Middleby from $155.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $164.00 price target on shares of Middleby in a research note on Saturday, September 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Middleby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Middleby from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective 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 issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Middleby currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $154.67.

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.