Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 1,248,743 Shares of The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lessened its holdings in shares of The Middleby Co. (NASDAQ:MIDD) by 98.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 17,584 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,248,743 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Middleby were worth $2,672,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MIDD. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Middleby by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. now owns 24,535 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,323,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Middleby by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Middleby by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,651 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in Middleby by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,167 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $971,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Middleby by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,472 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $470,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their price target on Middleby from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Middleby from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on Middleby from $200.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Middleby from $185.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Middleby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $168.14.

Middleby Price Performance

Shares of MIDD opened at $144.01 on Tuesday. The Middleby Co. has a 12-month low of $118.41 and a 12-month high of $182.73. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $140.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $147.08. 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 stock has a market cap of $7.73 billion, a PE ratio of 19.86 and a beta of 1.61.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.14. Middleby had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 10.14%. The business had revenue of $906.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $941.46 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that The Middleby Co. will post 9.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Edward P. Garden bought 203,058 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $139.13 per share, for a total transaction of $28,251,459.54. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,838,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $394,979,496.12. This represents a 7.70% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders bought a total of 640,968 shares of company stock valued at $93,495,270 in the last 90 days. Corporate 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.