Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Thursday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Medpace in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. They issued a buy rating and a $452.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Medpace in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. They issued a buy rating and a $435.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Medpace from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their target price for the company from $340.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Medpace from $456.00 to $469.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Medpace in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set a hold rating and a $395.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $445.29.

Medpace Price Performance

Shares of MEDP stock opened at $434.99 on Thursday. Medpace has a 12 month low of $227.21 and a 12 month high of $439.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.36. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $399.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $373.34.

Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The company reported $3.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $511.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $512.39 million. Medpace had a net margin of 15.92% and a return on equity of 59.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.27 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Medpace will post 11.29 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Medpace news, CEO August J. Troendle sold 15,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $400.69, for a total value of $6,051,220.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 791,541 shares in the company, valued at approximately $317,162,563.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Medpace news, CEO August J. Troendle sold 15,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $400.69, for a total value of $6,051,220.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 791,541 shares in the company, valued at approximately $317,162,563.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO August J. Troendle sold 3,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $395.22, for a total transaction of $1,575,742.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 660,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $260,983,922.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,621 shares of company stock worth $11,816,852. Insiders own 20.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Medpace by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,556,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $783,626,000 after purchasing an additional 142,591 shares during the last quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC lifted its stake in Medpace by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC now owns 652,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $199,975,000 after purchasing an additional 43,197 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Medpace by 22.9% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 574,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,042,000 after purchasing an additional 107,108 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Medpace by 312.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 421,313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,013,000 after purchasing an additional 319,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Medpace by 15.3% during the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 406,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,265,000 after purchasing an additional 53,983 shares during the last quarter. 77.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Medpace

Medpace Holdings, Inc provides clinical research-based drug and medical device development services in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company offers a suite of services supporting the clinical development process from Phase I to Phase IV in various therapeutic areas. It provides clinical development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries; and development plan design, coordinated central laboratory, project management, regulatory affairs, clinical monitoring, data management and analysis, pharmacovigilance new drug application submissions, and post-marketing clinical support services.