ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) Short Interest Up 7.1% in June

ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) was the target of a large increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,100,000 shares, an increase of 7.1% from the May 31st total of 1,960,000 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 511,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days.

ICON Public Trading Down 0.1 %

ICON Public stock opened at $318.01 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $26.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.69, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. ICON Public has a 1 year low of $221.20 and a 1 year high of $344.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $315.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $302.85.

ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The medical research company reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by $0.08. ICON Public had a net margin of 8.30% and a return on equity of 11.70%. The firm had revenue of $2.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that ICON Public will post 14.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ICLR. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ICON Public during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of ICON Public during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ICON Public by 110.0% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 105 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of ICON Public in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of ICON Public in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. 95.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on ICLR shares. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of ICON Public from $350.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of ICON Public in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $370.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of ICON Public from $363.00 to $367.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $346.00 price objective on shares of ICON Public in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of ICON Public in a research note on Friday, May 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $345.30.

ICON Public Company Profile

ICON Public Limited Company, a clinical research organization, provides outsourced development and commercialization services in Ireland, rest of Europe, the United States, and internationally. The company specializes in the strategic development, management, and analysis of programs that support various stages of the clinical development process from compound selection to Phase I-IV clinical studies.