ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $213.08.

ICLR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen downgraded shares of ICON Public from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $254.00 to $157.00 in a report on Monday, April 14th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of ICON Public from $200.00 to $173.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of ICON Public from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of ICON Public from $290.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of ICON Public from $180.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd.

ICON Public Stock Up 3.2%

ICON Public stock opened at $139.11 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $140.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.26. ICON Public has a one year low of $125.10 and a one year high of $347.72.

ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $3.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.17 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.03 billion. ICON Public had a net margin of 9.56% and a return on equity of 11.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that ICON Public will post 13.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of ICON Public

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ICLR. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in ICON Public during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in shares of ICON Public in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in shares of ICON Public by 48.8% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 250 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ICON Public in the 1st quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ICON Public in the 1st quarter valued at about $69,000. 95.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About ICON Public

ICON Public Limited Company, a clinical research organization, provides outsourced development and commercialization services in Ireland, rest of Europe, the United States, and internationally. The company specializes in the strategic development, management, and analysis of programs that support various stages of the clinical development process from compound selection to Phase I-IV clinical studies.