Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,460,000 shares, an increase of 16.8% from the February 13th total of 1,250,000 shares. Currently, 5.8% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 292,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.0 days.

Medpace Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of Medpace stock traded down $7.77 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $319.70. The company had a trading volume of 101,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 286,848. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $338.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $340.25. The stock has a market cap of $9.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.40, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.47. Medpace has a 12-month low of $302.01 and a 12-month high of $459.77.

Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.96 by $0.71. Medpace had a return on equity of 51.48% and a net margin of 19.17%. As a group, analysts expect that Medpace will post 12.29 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Medpace

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MEDP. Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Medpace by 2.0% in the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 1,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $505,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Medpace by 27.6% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 134 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Medpace by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 5,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,789,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Medpace by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 173 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Medpace by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 730 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Medpace from $354.00 to $362.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $381.44.

About Medpace

Medpace Holdings, Inc engages in the provision of outsourced clinical development services to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Its services include medical department, clinical trial management, data-driven feasibility, study-start-up, clinical monitoring, regulatory affairs, patient recruitment and retention, medical writing, biometrics and data sciences, pharmacovigilance, core laboratory, laboratories, clinics, and quality assurance.