Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) Receives $170.07 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $170.0667.

A number of analysts recently commented on ICLR shares. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Icon from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of Icon from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $126.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Icon in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. UBS Group set a $160.00 target price on shares of Icon in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Icon in a research note on Friday, May 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Icon

In other news, Director Ronan Murphy sold 5,005 shares of Icon stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $875,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $673,225. The trade was a 56.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ciaran Murray sold 2,677 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.29, for a total value of $439,804.33. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,452 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,360,059.08. The trade was a 11.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 22,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,887,139. 44.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Icon

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ICLR. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in shares of Icon in the 2nd quarter valued at $594,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Icon during the 2nd quarter worth $376,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its holdings in shares of Icon by 120.0% during the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 616 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $107,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Icon by 511.4% in the 2nd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 12,192 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,118,000 after buying an additional 10,198 shares during the period. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Icon in the 2nd quarter worth $6,337,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.61% of the company’s stock.

Icon Price Performance

Icon stock opened at $169.55 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.98 billion, a PE ratio of 39.80, a P/E/G ratio of 7.60 and a beta of 1.20. Icon has a 52 week low of $66.57 and a 52 week high of $203.91. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The medical research company reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.01. Icon had a net margin of 3.99% and a return on equity of 8.02%. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.26 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Icon will post 9.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Icon Company Profile

ICON plc is a contract research and development organization that provides services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and government clients. The company helps sponsors plan, manage and execute clinical development programs, supporting the progression of new medicines and healthcare products from early research through regulatory approval and commercialization.

Its services include clinical trial design and management, clinical data management, biostatistics, pharmacovigilance, regulatory consulting, medical affairs, laboratory services and real-world evidence.