Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 310,236 Shares of Icon Plc $ICLR

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) by 10.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,311,771 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 310,236 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Icon were worth $366,481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Toth Financial Advisory Corp bought a new stake in Icon during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. EFG International AG acquired a new stake in Icon during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Icon in the 4th quarter worth about $54,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Icon in the 3rd quarter worth about $71,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Icon by 207.5% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 658 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings cut Icon from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Citigroup increased their price target on Icon from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Icon to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Icon from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Icon from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $173.19.

Icon Stock Down 1.0%

ICLR stock opened at $166.10 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $142.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.06. The company has a market cap of $12.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.23 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. Icon Plc has a fifty-two week low of $66.57 and a fifty-two week high of $211.00.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. Icon had a return on equity of 8.73% and a net margin of 5.35%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.43 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Icon Plc will post 9.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.