Sei Investments Co. Grows Stock Holdings in The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD)

Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) by 27.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 76,345 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,432 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co. owned approximately 0.14% of Middleby worth $9,361,000 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. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Middleby by 481.0% during the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 68,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,066,000 after purchasing an additional 56,627 shares during the period. PEAK6 Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Middleby during the fourth quarter valued at $3,435,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Middleby by 533.7% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 483,214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $71,115,000 after acquiring an additional 406,958 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in Middleby by 10.1% in the first quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 73,925 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,886,000 after acquiring an additional 6,789 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in Middleby by 278.9% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 9,060 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,457,000 after acquiring an additional 6,669 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.55% of the company’s stock.

Middleby Price Performance

Shares of MIDD stock opened at $141.71 on Friday. The Middleby Co. has a fifty-two week low of $109.59 and a fifty-two week high of $161.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 2.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.74 and a beta of 1.58. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $137.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.61.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.08. Middleby had a net margin of 9.90% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The business had revenue of $991.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $994.05 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.47 EPS. Middleby’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Middleby Co. will post 9.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Middleby from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Raymond James initiated coverage on Middleby in a report on Friday, June 28th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $164.00 price target on shares of Middleby in a report on Friday, September 13th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on 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 reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Middleby in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.50.

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.