Skylands Capital LLC Acquires 13,650 Shares of Icon Plc $ICLR

Skylands Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) by 241.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,650 shares during the quarter. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Icon were worth $2,136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Icon Stock Up 5.5%

Shares of NASDAQ ICLR opened at $169.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a market cap of $13.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.22, a PEG ratio of 8.47 and a beta of 1.26. Icon Plc has a 1 year low of $66.57 and a 1 year high of $211.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $129.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.28.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.07. Icon had a return on equity of 8.73% and a net margin of 5.35%.The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.43 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Icon Plc will post 9.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ICLR shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Icon in a research note on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group set a $160.00 target price on Icon in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America increased their price target on Icon from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Icon from $168.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of Icon from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $126.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Thursday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $170.19.

Icon Company Profile

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.