California Public Employees Retirement System Decreases Stock Holdings in Icon Plc $ICLR

Key Points

• CalPERS cut its stake in Icon Plc by 22.9% in the first quarter, selling 35,755 shares and leaving it with 120,297 shares worth about $13.3 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high in Icon, with hedge funds and other institutions controlling 95.61% of the stock, while several firms including Advisortrust Partners and Bessemer Group increased their positions.
• Analysts are mixed but slightly constructive on ICLR: the stock has a consensus Hold rating with an average price target of $168.73, though several firms recently raised their targets and Royal Bank of Canada upgraded the shares to outperform.

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR - Free Report) by 22.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 120,297 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 35,755 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.15% of Icon worth $13,312,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Advisortrust Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Icon by 84.8% in the first quarter. Advisortrust Partners LLC now owns 3,756 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $416,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Icon by 80.4% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 8,835 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $978,000 after acquiring an additional 3,938 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Icon by 804.8% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,312 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 1,167 shares during the period. Quartz Partners LLC boosted its position in Icon by 47.0% in the first quarter. Quartz Partners LLC now owns 26,620 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,946,000 after purchasing an additional 8,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marks Group Wealth Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Icon by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 50,201 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $5,555,000 after purchasing an additional 4,647 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on ICLR shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded Icon from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. 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 report on Thursday, June 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Icon from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Icon from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Icon from $160.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Icon presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $168.73.

Icon Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of ICLR stock opened at $165.76 on Friday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $151.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.43. Icon Plc has a 52 week low of $66.57 and a 52 week high of $203.91. The stock has a market cap of $12.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.49, a PEG ratio of 8.36 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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.

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