ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) Stock Rating Upgraded by Leerink Partnrs

ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) was upgraded by stock analysts at Leerink Partnrs to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on ICLR. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on ICON Public in a report on Thursday, June 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $370.00 price target on the stock. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on ICON Public in a report on Wednesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $379.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen increased their target price on ICON Public from $349.00 to $373.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $368.00 target price on shares of ICON Public in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on ICON Public from $355.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ICON Public currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $354.40.

ICON Public Price Performance

ICLR opened at $302.45 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.95 billion, a PE ratio of 36.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $318.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $318.63. ICON Public has a 52-week low of $221.20 and a 52-week high of $347.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.31.

ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. ICON Public had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.57%. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.96 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that ICON Public will post 14.54 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of ICON Public

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP grew its holdings in ICON Public by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP now owns 119,728 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $37,531,000 after buying an additional 19,546 shares in the last quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS grew its holdings in ICON Public by 15.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 95,753 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $30,016,000 after buying an additional 13,163 shares in the last quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department grew its holdings in ICON Public by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department now owns 155,797 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $44,101,000 after buying an additional 7,270 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in ICON Public by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 695,932 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $196,998,000 after buying an additional 6,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in ICON Public during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,021,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.61% of the company’s stock.

About ICON Public

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.