Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) Shares Down 3.4%

Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP) shares fell 3.4% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $379.22 and last traded at $384.22. 78,457 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 249,110 shares. The stock had previously closed at $397.56.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on MEDP. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Medpace from $446.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Guggenheim upped their target price on Medpace from $453.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised Medpace from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $282.00 to $452.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Medpace from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $340.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Medpace in a report on Monday, March 18th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $395.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $443.00.

Medpace Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $12.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $397.83 and a 200 day moving average of $325.15.

Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $511.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $512.39 million. Medpace had a return on equity of 59.74% and a net margin of 15.92%. Medpace’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.27 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Medpace Holdings, Inc. will post 11.23 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Medpace news, VP Susan E. Burwig sold 102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.00, for a total value of $41,106.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 15,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,117,943. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Medpace news, VP Susan E. Burwig sold 102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $403.00, for a total value of $41,106.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 15,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,117,943. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Medpace Investors, Llc sold 13,988 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $386.39, for a total value of $5,404,823.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,525,959 shares in the company, valued at $2,135,175,298.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 189,340 shares of company stock valued at $76,651,647 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 20.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Medpace

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Medpace by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,556,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $783,626,000 after acquiring an additional 142,591 shares during the last quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Medpace by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC now owns 652,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,975,000 after acquiring an additional 43,197 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Medpace by 67.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 611,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,159,000 after acquiring an additional 246,775 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Medpace by 195.2% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 467,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,162,000 after acquiring an additional 308,816 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Medpace by 312.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 421,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,013,000 after acquiring an additional 319,210 shares during the last quarter. 77.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Medpace Company Profile

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.