ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) Shares Gap Down Following Weak Earnings

ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $280.76, but opened at $240.61. ICON Public shares last traded at $228.33, with a volume of 1,694,517 shares.

The medical research company reported $3.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.72 by ($0.37). ICON Public had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.57%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ICLR. Leerink Partners started coverage on ICON Public in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $379.00 price objective for the company. Leerink Partnrs raised ICON Public to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on ICON Public from $383.00 to $363.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com lowered ICON Public from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered ICON Public from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ICON Public currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $346.09.

Institutional Trading of ICON Public

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ICON Public in the second quarter worth approximately $54,000. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ICON Public in the second quarter worth approximately $59,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ICON Public by 410.8% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 189 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of ICON Public by 50.0% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 261 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of ICON Public by 17.4% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 283 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. 95.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ICON Public Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $299.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $310.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.22.

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.