Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) Cut to “Underweight” at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) from a neutral rating to an underweight rating in a report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $118.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $145.00.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on MIDD. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on Middleby from $166.00 to $159.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. William Blair raised Middleby to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Middleby currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $153.43.

Middleby Stock Down 1.6 %

MIDD stock opened at $124.73 on Wednesday. Middleby has a twelve month low of $109.59 and a twelve month high of $161.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $144.26 and its 200-day moving average is $141.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.71 billion, a PE ratio of 17.37 and a beta of 1.58.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The industrial products company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $926.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $979.05 million. Middleby had a net margin of 9.82% and a return on equity of 15.88%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.19 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Middleby will post 9.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Middleby

In related news, Director Cathy L. Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of Middleby stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.12, for a total value of $153,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,220,519.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Cathy L. Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of Middleby stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.12, for a total transaction of $153,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,220,519.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Chapin Sarah Palisi sold 235 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.18, for a total transaction of $32,237.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,204.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Middleby by 14,616.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 15,894 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,339,000 after buying an additional 15,786 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Middleby by 218.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 21,842 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,214,000 after buying an additional 14,991 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Middleby by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,696,476 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $251,621,000 after purchasing an additional 198,859 shares during the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Middleby during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,511,000. Finally, Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of Middleby by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 505,943 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $74,449,000 after purchasing an additional 16,813 shares during the last quarter. 98.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Middleby Company 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.