VELA Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Icon Plc $ICLR

VELA Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) by 511.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,192 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,198 shares during the quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Icon were worth $2,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. EFG International AG acquired a new stake in Icon in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Icon in the fourth quarter valued at about $54,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Icon by 21.4% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 391 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Icon during the third quarter worth approximately $71,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Icon in the 3rd quarter worth $78,000. 95.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ICLR. TD Cowen raised their price target on Icon from $164.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Zacks Research raised shares of Icon from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Piper Sandler downgraded Icon to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of Icon from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $126.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, UBS Group set a $160.00 price objective on Icon in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Icon has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $170.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Icon

In related news, Director Eugene Mccague sold 841 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.29, for a total value of $138,167.89. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,811 shares in the company, valued at approximately $626,109.19. The trade was a 18.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Ronan Murphy sold 841 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.29, for a total value of $138,167.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $632,023.63. The trade was a 17.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,531 shares of company stock valued at $1,565,764. Company insiders own 44.00% of the company’s stock.

Icon Price Performance

Shares of Icon stock opened at $164.85 on Tuesday. 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 Plc has a twelve month low of $66.57 and a twelve month high of $203.91. The stock has a market cap of $12.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.61 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $167.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.36.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The medical research company reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2 billion. Icon had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 3.99%.The company’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.26 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Icon Plc will post 9.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.