Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) Receives $168.73 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $170.40.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ICLR. Robert W. Baird set a $194.00 price objective on Icon in a research note on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group set a $160.00 target price on shares of Icon in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Icon from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Icon from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Leerink Partners set a $145.00 price target on shares of Icon in a report on Thursday, May 28th.

Icon Trading Down 1.4%

NASDAQ ICLR opened at $161.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.34 billion, a PE ratio of 37.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.80 and a beta of 1.21. Icon has a 1-year low of $66.57 and a 1-year high of $203.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $159.78 and a 200-day moving average of $134.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The medical research company reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2 billion. Icon had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 3.99%.Icon’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.26 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Icon will post 9.54 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ICLR. Harris Associates L P purchased a new stake in Icon in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $238,256,000. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Icon by 555.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,496,479 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $272,688,000 after buying an additional 1,268,095 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 975,268 shares during the period. Lyrical Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Icon during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $176,382,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Icon during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $160,073,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.61% of the company’s stock.

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.