Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Buys 288,314 Shares of The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD)

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) by 421.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 356,714 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 288,314 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.66% of Middleby worth $57,356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Middleby by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,113,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $822,165,000 after buying an additional 15,798 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Middleby by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 617,974 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $90,953,000 after buying an additional 13,632 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Middleby by 177.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 546,320 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $87,843,000 after buying an additional 349,546 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in Middleby by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 505,943 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $74,449,000 after buying an additional 16,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Middleby by 78.6% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 494,461 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $72,770,000 after buying an additional 217,618 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MIDD shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Middleby from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $118.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of Middleby in a research report on Friday, June 28th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. William Blair upgraded shares of Middleby to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Middleby from $175.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $159.00 price target on shares of Middleby in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.57.

Middleby Price Performance

NASDAQ:MIDD traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $131.71. The company had a trading volume of 974,624 shares, compared to its average volume of 548,939. The Middleby Co. has a 52-week low of $109.59 and a 52-week high of $161.01. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $125.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.15. The company has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The industrial products company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $926.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $979.05 million. Middleby had a return on equity of 15.88% and a net margin of 9.82%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.19 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that The Middleby Co. will post 9.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Middleby news, Director John R. Miller III sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.32, for a total value of $252,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,380,803.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Chapin Sarah Palisi sold 235 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 7,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,204.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John R. Miller III sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.32, for a total transaction of $252,640.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,380,803.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,385 shares of company stock valued at $304,134 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.16% of the company’s stock.

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.