Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy Rating

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

MIDD has been the topic of several other research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on Middleby from $175.00 to $171.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Middleby in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Wolfe Research set a $163.00 target price on shares of Middleby and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Zacks Research raised shares of Middleby from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Middleby from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $162.29.

Middleby Stock Up 2.6%

NASDAQ:MIDD traded up $3.14 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $123.20. 1,066,614 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 860,207. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $133.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.71. The firm has a market cap of $6.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.67 and a beta of 1.57. Middleby has a fifty-two week low of $114.57 and a fifty-two week high of $182.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.57, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Middleby (NASDAQ:MIDD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $982.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $961.21 million. Middleby had a return on equity of 14.14% and a net margin of 11.06%.Middleby’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.33 earnings per share. Middleby has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.990-9.140 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 2.190-2.340 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Middleby will post 9.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MIDD. SG Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Middleby in the third quarter valued at about $55,260,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Middleby by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 2,671 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $330,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Middleby in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,711,000. Syon Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Middleby by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 2,386 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Middleby during the third quarter valued at approximately $330,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.