Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Raises Stock Position in Medpace Holdings, Inc. $MEDP

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management dramatically increased its Medpace stake in the first quarter, buying more shares and lifting its holdings by 1,499.6% to 116,323 shares worth about $55.9 million.
• Medpace continues to have strong institutional backing, with hedge funds and other investors owning 77.98% of the stock, while insider ownership stands at 20.50% after General Counsel Stephen P. Ewald sold shares in late May.
• The company posted better-than-expected first-quarter results, with EPS of $4.28 and revenue of $706.6 million, though analysts have recently trimmed price targets and the stock currently carries an average Hold rating.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP - Free Report) by 1,499.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 116,323 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 109,051 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.41% of Medpace worth $55,857,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MEDP. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Medpace by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,349,703 shares of the company's stock valued at $758,061,000 after purchasing an additional 324,293 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Medpace by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 945,814 shares of the company's stock worth $296,853,000 after purchasing an additional 116,354 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Medpace by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 667,298 shares of the company's stock worth $374,836,000 after buying an additional 24,625 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Medpace by 18.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 537,407 shares of the company's stock worth $276,313,000 after buying an additional 85,517 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Medpace by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 375,033 shares of the company's stock worth $210,637,000 after buying an additional 60,883 shares during the last quarter. 77.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Stephen P. Ewald sold 16,349 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.00, for a total transaction of $7,357,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 20,343 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,154,350. This trade represents a 44.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 20.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on MEDP shares. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Medpace from $522.00 to $484.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Medpace from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Medpace from $500.00 to $450.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Medpace from $460.00 to $400.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Medpace from $565.00 to $477.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $467.08.

Medpace Stock Performance

MEDP opened at $519.96 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $14.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.18. The firm's fifty day moving average is $451.02 and its 200 day moving average is $496.81. Medpace Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $305.69 and a fifty-two week high of $628.92.

Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $4.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.74 by $0.54. The business had revenue of $706.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $697.82 million. Medpace had a return on equity of 120.89% and a net margin of 17.19%.Medpace's revenue for the quarter was up 26.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.67 EPS. Medpace has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.680-17.500 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Medpace Holdings, Inc. will post 17.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Medpace Company Profile

Medpace Holdings, Inc NASDAQ: MEDP is a global contract research organization (CRO) that provides comprehensive clinical development services to biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies. The company supports clinical trials across all phases (I–IV), offering end-to-end solutions designed to streamline the development process and accelerate the delivery of new therapies to market.

Medpace's core service offerings include clinical pharmacology, regulatory affairs consulting, project management, central laboratory services, imaging, data management and biostatistics, pharmacovigilance and medical writing.

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