Robert W. Baird Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) Stock

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) had its price target upped by analysts at Robert W. Baird from $157.00 to $227.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 32.00% from the stock’s current price.

MIDD has been the subject of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective (down previously from $170.00) on shares of Middleby in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Middleby from $155.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Middleby from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Middleby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $174.67.

Middleby Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of MIDD traded up $0.23 on Tuesday, reaching $171.98. The stock had a trading volume of 390,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 860,629. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.70 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.81. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $140.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $137.78. Middleby has a 12-month low of $118.41 and a 12-month high of $177.90.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $942.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $996.60 million. Middleby had a net margin of 10.14% and a return on equity of 14.66%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.35 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Middleby will post 9.12 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Middleby

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in Middleby by 533.3% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 10,348 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,440,000 after acquiring an additional 8,714 shares in the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Middleby by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 71,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,617,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Middleby by 142,460.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 7,128 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $992,000 after purchasing an additional 7,123 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Middleby by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 622 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Middleby during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,220,000. Institutional investors own 98.55% 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.