ICU Medical (NASDAQ:ICUI) Raised to Overweight at Piper Sandler

Key Points

• ICU Medical's stock rating was upgraded to a "strong-buy" by Piper Sandler, signaling increased investor confidence.
• The company reported earnings of $2.10 per share, surpassing estimates, but experienced an 8% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• Insider buying activity was notable, with CEO Vivek Jain purchasing over 21,000 shares, increasing his ownership stake by 20.26%.

ICU Medical (NASDAQ:ICUI - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Piper Sandler to an "overweight" rating in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a $145.00 price target on the medical instruments supplier's stock. Piper Sandler's price target would suggest a potential upside of 19.88% from the company's previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. KeyCorp dropped their target price on ICU Medical from $209.00 to $191.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded ICU Medical from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on ICU Medical from $187.00 to $180.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ICU Medical presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $179.00.

ICU Medical Trading Up 8.1%

Shares of ICU Medical stock opened at $120.95 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $128.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.02. ICU Medical has a 1 year low of $107.00 and a 1 year high of $196.26. The company 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 (NASDAQ:ICUI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.66. ICU Medical had a positive return on equity of 7.24% and a negative net margin of 1.56%. The business had revenue of $543.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $543.33 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.56 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that ICU Medical will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ICU Medical news, CEO Vivek Jain bought 21,929 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $112.84 per share, for a total transaction of $2,474,468.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 130,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,686,013.16. The trade was a 20.26% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Christian B. Voigtlander sold 4,985 shares of ICU Medical stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total value of $640,572.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 6,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $782,308. This represents a 45.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,889 shares of company stock worth $1,933,186 in the last 90 days. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ICUI. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of ICU Medical by 27.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 716 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of ICU Medical during the first quarter worth about $859,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of ICU Medical during the first quarter worth about $235,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of ICU Medical by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 113,153 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $17,558,000 after purchasing an additional 12,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of ICU Medical by 88.8% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 638 shares of the medical instruments supplier's stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.10% of the company's stock.

About ICU Medical

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.