Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Has $207,000 Stake in The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ:MIDD) by 12.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,365 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Middleby were worth $207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Middleby by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,517 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $341,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Garden Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Middleby in the fourth quarter worth about $101,958,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Middleby during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,283,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Middleby by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,260,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $712,594,000 after acquiring an additional 21,771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IMC Chicago LLC purchased a new position in Middleby in the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,069,000. 98.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Middleby Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of Middleby stock opened at $147.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 2.72. The Middleby Corporation has a one year low of $121.70 and a one year high of $182.73. The company has a market cap of $7.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.42 and a beta of 1.57. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $146.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $148.03.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.14. Middleby had a net margin of 11.26% and a return on equity of 14.47%. The company had revenue of $906.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $941.46 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that The Middleby Corporation will post 9.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Edward P. Garden acquired 249,339 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $149.59 per share, for a total transaction of $37,298,621.01. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 3,088,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $461,973,262.17. This trade represents a 8.78% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have purchased a total of 640,968 shares of company stock valued at $93,495,270 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 6.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. 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 research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Middleby from $200.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Middleby from $188.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Middleby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.14.

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.