ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) Coverage Initiated at Royal Bank of Canada

Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) in a research report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $263.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 22.04% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also commented on ICLR. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of ICON Public from $370.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of ICON Public in a report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $311.00 target price on the stock. Baird R W downgraded ICON Public from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Leerink Partners reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $255.00 price objective (down from $270.00) on shares of ICON Public in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on ICON Public from $300.00 to $290.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.00.

ICON Public Price Performance

ICON Public stock opened at $215.51 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market cap of $17.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.20. ICON Public has a 1 year low of $183.38 and a 1 year high of $347.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $211.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $274.18.

ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.72 by ($0.37). The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. ICON Public had a net margin of 9.00% and a return on equity of 11.91%. ICON Public’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.10 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that ICON Public will post 13.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of ICON Public

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of ICON Public during the 2nd quarter valued at about $54,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in ICON Public by 39.2% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 394 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of ICON Public by 64.0% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 433 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in shares of ICON Public by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 511 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ICON Public by 33.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 597 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $172,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. 95.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.