Piper Sandler Upgrades ICU Medical (NASDAQ:ICUI) to “Strong-Buy”

ICU Medical (NASDAQ:ICUI) was upgraded by Piper Sandler to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $145.00 price objective on the medical instruments supplier’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price target points to a potential upside of 19.88% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded ICU Medical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. KeyCorp cut their price target on ICU Medical from $209.00 to $191.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on shares of ICU Medical from $187.00 to $180.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $179.00.

ICU Medical Trading Up 8.1%

Shares of ICUI opened at $120.95 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -79.57 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 1.17. ICU Medical has a 1-year low of $107.00 and a 1-year high of $196.26. The company has a 50-day moving average of $128.20 and a 200 day moving average of $138.21.

ICU Medical (NASDAQ:ICUI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.66. ICU Medical had a negative net margin of 1.56% and a positive return on equity of 7.24%. The business had revenue of $543.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $543.33 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.56 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that ICU Medical will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at ICU Medical

In other news, Director Elisha W. Finney sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.92, for a total value of $83,352.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $451,767.84. This trade represents a 15.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Vivek Jain acquired 21,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $112.84 per share, for a total transaction of $2,474,468.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 130,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,686,013.16. The trade was a 20.26% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,044 shares of company stock valued at $2,783,128 over the last quarter. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ICU Medical

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. River Road Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of ICU Medical by 207.0% during the second quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 651,492 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $83,658,000 after purchasing an additional 439,263 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in ICU Medical during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,633,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in ICU Medical in the second quarter valued at about $27,928,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in ICU Medical by 992.1% in the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 130,762 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $18,158,000 after buying an additional 118,789 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in ICU Medical by 850.4% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 123,041 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $17,085,000 after acquiring an additional 110,095 shares in the last quarter. 96.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ICU Medical Company Profile

ICU Medical, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells medical devices used in infusion therapy, vascular access, and vital care applications worldwide. Its infusion therapy products include needlefree products under the MicroClave, MicroClave Clear, and NanoClave brands; Neutron catheter patency devices; ChemoClave and ChemoLock closed system transfer devices, which are used to limit the escape of hazardous drugs or vapor concentrations, block the transfer of environmental contaminants into the system, and eliminates the risk of needlestick injury; Tego needle free connectors; Deltec GRIPPER non-coring needles for portal access; and ClearGuard, SwabCap, and SwabTip disinfection caps.