Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) CFO Sells $372,445.43 in Stock

Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) CFO Nigel Bernard John Clerkin sold 2,267 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.29, for a total transaction of $372,445.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 5,881 shares in the company, valued at approximately $966,189.49. The trade was a 27.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Icon Stock Up 1.0%

NASDAQ:ICLR traded up $1.59 on Wednesday, reaching $167.17. 804,300 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,385,099. The company has a market capitalization of $12.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.24, a PEG ratio of 6.88 and a beta of 1.21. 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 12 month low of $66.57 and a 12 month high of $203.91. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $161.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.31.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last issued its 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. Icon had a net margin of 3.99% and a return on equity of 8.02%. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Icon Plc will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Icon

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harris Associates L P bought a new stake in Icon during the second quarter valued at approximately $238,256,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in Icon by 555.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,496,479 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $272,688,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268,095 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Icon by 26.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,637,137 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $811,499,000 after acquiring an additional 975,268 shares during the period. Lyrical Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Icon during the 4th quarter worth $176,382,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Icon during the 4th quarter valued at $160,073,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on ICLR. William Blair raised Icon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research upgraded Icon from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Icon in a report on Friday, May 29th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Icon from $164.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Leerink Partners set a $145.00 price objective on Icon in a report on Thursday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $170.40.

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.