Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) Upgraded to Neutral at Bank of America

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Bank of America from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $185.00 price objective on the medical research company’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 12.46% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $209.00 price target (up from $207.00) on shares of Icon in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Icon from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Icon from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Icon from $164.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Icon from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Icon presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $174.73.

Icon Stock Performance

Shares of Icon stock opened at $164.50 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.60 billion, a PE ratio of 38.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.59 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Icon has a 52 week low of $66.57 and a 52 week high of $203.91. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $166.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $146.73.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The medical research company reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.26 EPS. Icon’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Icon will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Icon

In other Icon news, Director Ronan Murphy sold 5,005 shares of the 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 $875,875.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $673,225. This represents a 56.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ciaran Murray sold 2,677 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.29, for a total transaction of $439,804.33. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,452 shares in the company, valued at $3,360,059.08. The trade was a 11.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 22,796 shares of company stock worth $3,887,139 over the last ninety days. 44.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Icon

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ICLR. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new position in Icon in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Icon by 21.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 391 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of Icon by 120.0% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 616 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $107,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position 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 buying an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust raised its stake in Icon by 30.0% during the 2nd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 866 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $150,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.61% of the company’s stock.

Icon Company Profile

ICON plc is a global contract research and clinical development organization headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company provides outsourced services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and government organizations, supporting the development and commercialization of healthcare products.

Its services span clinical trial management, clinical and regulatory consulting, data management, biostatistics, medical writing, pharmacovigilance, laboratory services, medical imaging and commercialization support.