Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) Price Target Raised to $249.00

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) had its price objective lifted by Robert W. Baird from $210.00 to $249.00 in a report published on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the medical research company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Icon from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 9th. William Blair upgraded Icon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $254.00 price objective on shares of Icon in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group started coverage on Icon in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $195.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Icon from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Icon has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $213.76.

Icon Stock Performance

NASDAQ ICLR opened at $211.36 on Thursday. Icon has a 1 year low of $66.57 and a 1 year high of $219.04. The firm has a market cap of $16.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.38, a PEG ratio of 13.67 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $171.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $146.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The medical research company reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.62 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. Icon had a net margin of 5.45% and a return on equity of 7.73%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.31 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Icon will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bernard Clerkin sold 2,267 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.29, for a total transaction of $372,445.43. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 5,881 shares in the company, valued at approximately $966,189.49. This represents a 27.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Eugene Mccague sold 3,255 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $569,625.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $666,925. The trade was a 46.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,068 shares of company stock valued at $3,936,744. 44.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its holdings in shares of Icon by 0.4% during the third quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 20,762 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,529,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Icon in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Icon during the third quarter valued at approximately $571,000. Pullen Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Icon during the third quarter valued at approximately $907,000. Finally, Gibbs Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Icon during the third quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.61% of the company’s stock.

About Icon

ICON plc is a global contract research organization that provides outsourced development services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. The company supports clinical research programs from early development through late-stage trials, regulatory submission and post-marketing activities.

Its services include clinical trial management, medical and regulatory consulting, biostatistics, data management, pharmacovigilance, laboratory services and real-world evidence solutions.