Insider Selling: Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) CEO Sells $62,674.74 in Stock

Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) CEO Barry Edward Balfe sold 382 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.07, for a total value of $62,674.74. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $788,192.28. The trade was a 7.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Icon Price Performance

Icon stock traded down $0.47 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $165.58. 656,816 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,388,886. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $160.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.45. Icon Plc has a 1 year low of $66.57 and a 1 year high of $203.91. The company has a market capitalization of $12.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.87, a P/E/G ratio of 6.82 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The medical research company reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2 billion. Icon had a net margin of 3.99% and a return on equity of 8.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.26 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Icon Plc will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ICLR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Leerink Partners set a $145.00 target price on shares of Icon in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $209.00 price target (up from $207.00) on shares of Icon in a research note on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group set a $160.00 price objective on Icon in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Icon from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, William Blair upgraded Icon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $170.40.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Icon

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ICLR. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in Icon during the second quarter worth approximately $254,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Icon by 19.3% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 28,145 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,094,000 after buying an additional 4,546 shares during the period. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Icon by 97.6% during the 2nd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 71,360 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,379,000 after buying an additional 35,253 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Icon during the 2nd quarter worth $212,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Icon by 58.7% in the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 781 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. 95.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.