Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) Price Target Raised to $155.00

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) had its price objective upped by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $130.00 to $155.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the medical research company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target indicates a potential downside of 5.70% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Icon from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Icon from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group set a $160.00 price objective on Icon in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America boosted their target price on Icon from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Icon from $139.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Icon currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.56.

Icon Price Performance

Shares of ICLR stock traded up $6.20 on Thursday, reaching $164.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 215,160 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,518,858. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $127.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.23. Icon has a 1 year low of $66.57 and a 1 year high of $211.00. The company has a market capitalization of $12.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.70 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.07. Icon had a net margin of 5.35% and a return on equity of 8.71%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.43 earnings per share. Icon’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Icon will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Icon

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ICLR. Toth Financial Advisory Corp purchased a new stake in Icon in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. EFG International AG purchased a new position in shares of Icon during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Icon during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Icon during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Icon in the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.61% of the company’s stock.

About Icon

Icon plc (NASDAQ: ICLR) is a global provider of outsourced drug development and clinical research services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. The company partners with clients at all stages of the product life cycle, offering expertise in protocol design, trial execution and regulatory compliance across a broad range of therapeutic areas.

Icon’s service portfolio encompasses clinical trial management, data management and biostatistics, medical imaging, pharmacovigilance and safety monitoring, laboratory sciences and specialized analytical solutions.