Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Buys 2,893,946 Shares of Icon Plc $ICLR

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) by 67.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,184,870 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,893,946 shares during the period. Icon accounts for about 1.5% of Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned about 8.90% of Icon worth $1,045,039,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ICLR. Sierra Legacy Group raised its holdings in shares of Icon by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sierra Legacy Group now owns 4,430 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its position in Icon by 11.9% in the second quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,816 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG raised its stake in shares of Icon by 7.1% in the second quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 7,500 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Icon by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 15,962 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,322,000 after buying an additional 1,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Icon by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,752,008 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $545,730,000 after acquiring an additional 650,379 shares during the period. 95.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Icon Trading Up 2.9%

Icon stock opened at $161.02 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. Icon Plc has a fifty-two week low of $125.10 and a fifty-two week high of $228.29. The stock has a market cap of $13.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.79, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $174.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $161.15.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. Icon had a return on equity of 10.58% and a net margin of 7.40%.The firm’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.35 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Icon Plc will post 13.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ICLR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Icon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $184.00 to $236.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Icon from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $220.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (down from $225.00) on shares of Icon in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Robert W. Baird set a $220.00 target price on shares of Icon in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Rothschild Redb upgraded Icon from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.00.

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.