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

ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $272.50.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ICLR. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on ICON Public from $221.00 to $203.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded ICON Public from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $250.00 to $200.00 in a report on Friday. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of ICON Public from $284.00 to $262.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of ICON Public from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of ICON Public in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th.

ICON Public Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ICLR opened at $184.44 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $192.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $224.83. The company has a market capitalization of $14.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.35, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. ICON Public has a twelve month low of $174.93 and a twelve month high of $347.72.

ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The medical research company reported $3.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.41 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. ICON Public had a net margin of 9.56% and a return on equity of 11.81%. As a group, analysts expect that ICON Public will post 13.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of ICON Public

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Steph & Co. grew its stake in ICON Public by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 1,560 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in shares of ICON Public by 48.8% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 250 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of ICON Public in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in ICON Public by 33.9% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 597 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $172,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp lifted its stake in ICON Public by 281.4% in the fourth quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 225 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. 95.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.