Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) Lifted to “Buy” at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $450.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $340.00.

MEDP has been the subject of several other reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Medpace from $312.00 to $408.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group raised shares of Medpace from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their target price for the company from $282.00 to $452.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Medpace from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Saturday, March 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Medpace in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They issued a hold rating and a $395.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $395.60.

Medpace Price Performance

MEDP stock opened at $407.15 on Tuesday. Medpace has a one year low of $187.03 and a one year high of $419.42. The stock has a market cap of $12.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $397.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $323.14.

Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The company reported $3.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.45 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $511.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $512.39 million. Medpace had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 63.98%. Medpace’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.27 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Medpace will post 10.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Medpace news, major shareholder Medpace Investors, Llc sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.75, for a total transaction of $19,587,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,539,947 shares in the company, valued at $2,170,274,237.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, VP Susan E. Burwig sold 102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.00, for a total transaction of $41,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 15,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,117,943. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Medpace Investors, Llc sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.75, for a total value of $19,587,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,539,947 shares in the company, valued at $2,170,274,237.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 189,340 shares of company stock worth $76,651,647. Company insiders own 20.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MEDP. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI boosted its stake in shares of Medpace by 40.3% in the 1st quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its position in Medpace by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 3,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $943,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Medpace by 2.0% during the third quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. now owns 2,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $545,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Medpace by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 954 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Medpace by 43.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 149 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.98% of the company’s stock.

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.