Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 592,983 Shares of Icon Plc $ICLR

Wellington Management Group LLP decreased its position in shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,320,054 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 592,983 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 0.07% of Icon worth $924,147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ICLR. Harris Associates L P acquired a new position in Icon in the second quarter valued at $238,256,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Icon by 555.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,496,479 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $272,688,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268,095 shares during the period. Lyrical Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Icon in the 4th quarter valued at about $176,382,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Icon during the 4th quarter valued at about $160,073,000. Finally, Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. acquired a new stake in Icon during the fourth quarter worth approximately $135,489,000. 95.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Icon Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:ICLR opened at $170.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Icon Plc has a one year low of $66.57 and a one year high of $203.91. The company has a market cap of $13.02 billion, a PE ratio of 39.91, a PEG ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $167.20 and a 200-day moving average of $134.06.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The medical research company reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2 billion. Icon had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 3.99%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.26 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Icon Plc will post 9.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Icon in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of Icon from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $126.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. DA Davidson set a $164.00 price target on shares of Icon in a report on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Icon in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Icon from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $170.40.

Insider Activity at Icon

In other Icon news, CFO Nigel Bernard John Clerkin sold 2,267 shares of Icon stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.29, for a total transaction of $372,445.43. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 5,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $966,189.49. The trade was a 27.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Ronan Martin Murphy sold 841 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.29, for a total transaction of $138,167.89. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $632,023.63. This represents a 17.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 9,531 shares of company stock valued at $1,565,764 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 44.00% of the company’s stock.

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.