Insider Selling: Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) CEO Sells $1,069,465.50 in Stock

Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) CEO Barry Balfe sold 5,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.66, for a total transaction of $1,069,465.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,291 shares in the company, valued at $1,920,078.06. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Barry Edward Balfe also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, August 10th, Barry Balfe sold 382 shares of Icon stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.07, for a total transaction of $62,674.74.

Icon Stock Down 0.7%

Icon stock opened at $201.65 on Friday. Icon Plc has a 1-year low of $66.57 and a 1-year high of $219.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.71, a P/E/G ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $146.92.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The medical research company reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.62 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. Icon had a net margin of 5.45% and a return on equity of 7.73%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.31 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Icon Plc will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Icon by 257.8% during the second quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,199,600 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $208,383,000 after purchasing an additional 864,300 shares in the last quarter. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT bought a new position in shares of Icon in the first quarter worth approximately $69,379,000. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP raised its stake in Icon by 27.1% in the second quarter. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP now owns 1,535,462 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $266,725,000 after purchasing an additional 327,314 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Icon by 10.3% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,311,771 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $366,481,000 after purchasing an additional 310,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Icon by 50.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 788,828 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $87,262,000 after purchasing an additional 265,858 shares during the last quarter. 95.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ICLR shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Icon from $195.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Icon from $197.00 to $254.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Zacks Research raised Icon from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Mizuho set a $228.00 price target on Icon in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Icon in a report on Thursday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Icon currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $213.76.

About Icon

ICON plc is a global contract research organization that provides outsourced development services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. The company supports clinical research programs from early development through late-stage trials, regulatory submission and post-marketing activities.

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