ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $292.45.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ICLR. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of ICON Public in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $311.00 price target for the company. Leerink Partnrs raised ICON Public to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Leerink Partners restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $255.00 price target (down previously from $270.00) on shares of ICON Public in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on ICON Public from $360.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on ICON Public from $370.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ICON Public

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc purchased a new position in shares of ICON Public during the third quarter valued at approximately $11,672,000. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP raised its stake 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 during the last quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its stake in shares of ICON Public by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 95,753 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $30,016,000 after buying an additional 13,163 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of ICON Public by 861.1% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,215 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,797,000 after acquiring an additional 11,840 shares during the period. Finally, Sara Bay Financial purchased a new stake in ICON Public during the third quarter valued at $1,143,000. Institutional investors own 95.61% of the company’s stock.

ICON Public Stock Performance

Shares of ICLR stock opened at $217.47 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $241.72 and its 200 day moving average is $290.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.21. ICON Public has a 12 month low of $183.38 and a 12 month high of $347.72.

ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.72 by ($0.37). The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. ICON Public had a net margin of 9.00% and a return on equity of 11.91%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.10 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that ICON Public will post 13.42 earnings per share for the current year.

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.