Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) Stock Has Average Price Target of $213.76 According to Analysts

Shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $213.76.

ICLR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their target price on Icon from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Icon from $195.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Icon from $175.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Mizuho set a $228.00 price objective on shares of Icon in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Icon from $185.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ronan Murphy sold 5,005 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $875,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $673,225. This represents a 56.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Barry Balfe sold 5,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.66, for a total transaction of $1,069,465.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,920,078.06. This represents a 35.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 23,916 shares of company stock valued at $4,512,452 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 44.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Icon

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Icon by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 29,193 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,962,000 after buying an additional 3,927 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Icon by 330.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 8,654 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,471,000 after buying an additional 6,644 shares in the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. grew its position in Icon by 17.7% in the third quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 53,974 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,175,000 after acquiring an additional 8,131 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its position in Icon by 7.1% in the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 771,246 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $131,104,000 after acquiring an additional 50,985 shares during the period. Finally, Muhlenkamp & Co. Inc. grew its position in Icon by 1.1% in the third quarter. Muhlenkamp & Co. Inc. now owns 67,038 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,396,000 after acquiring an additional 701 shares during the period. 95.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Icon Stock Performance

Shares of ICLR traded down $5.86 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $194.65. 966,542 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,245,134. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $179.01 and its 200 day moving average is $147.43. The stock has a market cap of $14.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.11 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.32. Icon has a 1-year low of $66.57 and a 1-year high of $219.04.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The medical research company reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.62 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. Icon had a return on equity of 7.73% and a net margin of 5.45%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.31 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Icon will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Icon

ICON plc is a global contract research organization (CRO) that provides outsourced development services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and government organizations. Its work supports the development of medicines and other healthcare products from early research through clinical trials and regulatory submission. The company’s services include clinical trial design and management, data management and biostatistics, regulatory support, laboratory services, medical imaging and patient recruitment.