Coho Partners Ltd. Makes New Investment in Icon Plc $ICLR

Coho Partners Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 231,343 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,649,000. Icon accounts for approximately 2.5% of Coho Partners Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Coho Partners Ltd. owned 0.29% of Icon as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Icon by 3.6% in the second 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 period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Icon by 2.7% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 22,511 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,274,000 after buying an additional 583 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Icon by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,060,499 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $157,887,000 after acquiring an additional 162,853 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Icon in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Icon by 42.2% in the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 14,691 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,137,000 after acquiring an additional 4,362 shares during the period. 95.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ICLR. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Icon from $170.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Rothschild Redb raised shares of Icon from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Icon from $173.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Icon from $187.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Baird R W raised Icon from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.64.

Icon Stock Performance

Shares of ICLR stock opened at $188.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. Icon Plc has a one year low of $125.10 and a one year high of $301.45. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $176.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $157.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.23.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.18 by $0.08. Icon had a return on equity of 10.95% and a net margin of 9.82%.The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. Icon’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Icon has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.000-14.000 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Icon Plc will post 13.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.