Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nineteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $207.1429.

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Icon in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Rothschild Redb raised Icon from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Icon from $170.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised Icon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $184.00 to $236.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target (down from $225.00) on shares of Icon in a report on Thursday, August 21st.

Icon Trading Down 2.4%

ICLR opened at $177.73 on Wednesday. Icon has a 12 month low of $125.10 and a 12 month high of $234.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.05, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $178.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $159.01.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.28 by $0.03. Icon had a return on equity of 10.58% and a net margin of 7.40%.The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.35 EPS. Icon’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Icon will post 13.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Icon

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Icon by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 541 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Icon by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 678 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Icon by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,174 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $205,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls lifted its holdings in Icon by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. First National Bank Sioux Falls now owns 1,580 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $230,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Icon by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,698 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $392,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. 95.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Icon Company Profile

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.