Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eighteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $173.1875.

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their target price on Icon from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Icon from $168.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Citigroup upped their price target on Icon from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Piper Sandler cut Icon to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of Icon from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $159.00 to $207.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th.

Icon Price Performance

Icon stock opened at $173.06 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $13.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.79, a P/E/G ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Icon has a fifty-two week low of $66.57 and a fifty-two week high of $211.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $135.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $137.54.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. Icon had a return on equity of 8.73% and a net margin of 5.35%.The firm’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.43 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Icon will post 9.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Icon

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Icon by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,080,192 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $203,800,000 after buying an additional 11,335 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in Icon in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,074,000. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of Icon in the 4th quarter worth approximately $123,542,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Icon by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,753,528 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $481,692,000 after acquiring an additional 719,301 shares during the period. Finally, Trinity Street Asset Management LLP grew its holdings in shares of Icon by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP now owns 1,072,428 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $195,418,000 after purchasing an additional 201,455 shares in the last quarter. 95.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Icon Company Profile

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.