Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) CEO Barry Edward Balfe Sells 382 Shares

Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) CEO Barry Edward Balfe sold 382 shares of Icon stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.07, for a total transaction of $62,674.74. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 4,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $788,192.28. This represents a 7.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Icon Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ ICLR opened at $165.58 on Wednesday. Icon Plc has a fifty-two week low of $66.57 and a fifty-two week high of $203.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.87, a P/E/G ratio of 6.88 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.31.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The medical research company reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.01. Icon had a net margin of 3.99% and a return on equity of 8.02%. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.26 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Icon Plc will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on ICLR. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Icon from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Icon from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Bank of America raised their price objective on Icon from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Icon from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Leerink Partners set a $145.00 price objective on Icon in a report on Thursday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $170.40.

Institutional Trading of Icon

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. EFG International AG acquired a new stake in Icon in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Icon during the 4th quarter worth about $54,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Icon by 21.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 391 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Icon in the 3rd quarter valued at about $71,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Icon by 207.5% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 658 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. 95.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Icon

Icon plc (NASDAQ: ICLR) is a global provider of outsourced drug development and clinical research services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. The company partners with clients at all stages of the product life cycle, offering expertise in protocol design, trial execution and regulatory compliance across a broad range of therapeutic areas.

Icon’s service portfolio encompasses clinical trial management, data management and biostatistics, medical imaging, pharmacovigilance and safety monitoring, laboratory sciences and specialized analytical solutions.