Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Has $3.17 Million Position in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in shares of The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in Middleby were worth $3,171,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Middleby by 4,494.8% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,266,327 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $171,524,000 after buying an additional 1,238,767 shares during the last quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Middleby during the fourth quarter worth approximately $91,869,000. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC acquired a new position in shares of Middleby in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,930,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Middleby during the fourth quarter worth approximately $20,189,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in Middleby by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 371,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,037,000 after purchasing an additional 112,855 shares during the last quarter. 98.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on MIDD. StockNews.com cut Middleby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Middleby from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Middleby from $157.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Middleby from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Middleby from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $179.43.

Middleby Stock Performance

Shares of Middleby stock opened at $127.48 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $6.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.58 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.81 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 $182.73. The company’s fifty day moving average is $153.61 and its 200 day moving average is $145.79.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.50 by $0.38. Middleby had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 10.14%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $996.69 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Middleby Co. will post 9.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Chapin Sarah Palisi sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.51, for a total value of $81,755.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,111 shares in the company, valued at $999,209.61. The trade was a 7.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.18% of the company’s stock.

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.