Baird Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stake in Icon Plc $ICLR

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. significantly reduced its stake in Icon Plc by 89%, selling 164,334 shares during the first quarter and holding a value of approximately $3.55 million as of its latest SEC filing.
• Icon Plc reported earnings of $3.26 per share for the quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations and generating a revenue of $2.02 billion, although it represents a 4.8% decline compared to the same quarter last year.
• Various analysts have upgraded their ratings for Icon Plc, with UBS raising its price target to $240.00 and maintaining a "buy" rating, reflecting optimism about the company's future performance.

Baird Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR - Free Report) by 89.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,271 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 164,334 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Icon were worth $3,547,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Icon during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Icon during the 1st quarter valued at $59,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Icon during the 1st quarter valued at $69,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Icon by 22.8% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 593 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Icon during the 1st quarter valued at $101,000. 95.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Icon Price Performance

Shares of Icon stock traded up $9.67 during trading on Thursday, hitting $175.11. 1,410,385 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 949,479. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market cap of $14.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.02, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.20. The firm's fifty day moving average is $167.37 and its 200-day moving average is $158.12. Icon Plc has a 52 week low of $125.10 and a 52 week high of $310.54.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. Icon had a return on equity of 10.95% and a net margin of 9.82%.The company's revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.75 EPS. Icon has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.000-14.000 EPS. Research analysts expect that Icon Plc will post 13.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ICLR. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded Icon from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $184.00 to $236.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Icon from $155.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Icon from $222.00 to $224.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Baird R W upgraded Icon from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Icon from $173.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Icon currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $216.67.

Icon Company Profile

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.