Brandes Investment Partners LP Purchases 21,072 Shares of Icon Plc $ICLR

Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 776,732 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,072 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned approximately 0.96% of Icon worth $141,538,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Icon by 26.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,637,137 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $811,499,000 after acquiring an additional 975,268 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Icon by 11.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,427,630 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $599,835,000 after acquiring an additional 341,637 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Icon by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,993,336 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $545,410,000 after acquiring an additional 239,808 shares during the period. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. grew its stake in shares of Icon by 36.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. now owns 1,708,183 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $248,455,000 after purchasing an additional 453,833 shares during the period. Finally, Harris Associates L P bought a new stake in shares of Icon in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $238,256,000. 95.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Icon Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of ICLR opened at $151.82 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.65, a PEG ratio of 12.03 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Icon Plc has a one year low of $66.57 and a one year high of $211.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $119.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $140.63.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 10th. The medical research company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.47 by $0.05. Icon had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 5.98%.The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.43 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Icon Plc will post 9.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ICLR shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $100.00 price objective on Icon and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Icon from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Icon from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Icon from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Icon from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Icon has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.44.

About Icon

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.