Short Interest in ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) Increases By 18.1%

ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,760,000 shares, a growth of 18.1% from the September 15th total of 1,490,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 572,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Trading of ICON Public

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of ICON Public by 22.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 174 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in ICON Public by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 283 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Motco increased its holdings in shares of ICON Public by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 3,882 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,304,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. First National Bank of Hutchinson raised its holdings in shares of ICON Public by 5.7% during the first quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 1,135 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $381,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in ICON Public during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. 95.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ICON Public Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of ICON Public stock traded down $1.27 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $293.60. The stock had a trading volume of 437,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 571,195. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. ICON Public has a 1 year low of $221.20 and a 1 year high of $347.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $304.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $312.85.

ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. ICON Public had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.57%. The company had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that ICON Public will post 14.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on ICLR. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of ICON Public in a research report on Monday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $311.00 price objective for the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of ICON Public from $350.00 to $330.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of ICON Public from $368.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 20th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on ICON Public from $360.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Leerink Partners began 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $346.09.

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.