Icon Plc $ICLR Shares Sold by Welch & Forbes LLC

Key Points

• Welch & Forbes LLC reduced its Icon Plc stake by 54% in the first quarter, selling 10,105 shares and leaving it with 8,605 shares worth about $952,000.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other institutions holding 95.61% of Icon’s stock, while several firms added or increased positions during the period.
• Analysts were mixed on Icon but mostly lifted price targets; the stock has a consensus rating of Hold with a consensus price target of $173.19, while the company recently posted earnings and revenue that beat estimates.

Welch & Forbes LLC cut its stake in shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR - Free Report) by 54.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,605 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 10,105 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC's holdings in Icon were worth $952,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Toth Financial Advisory Corp acquired a new stake in Icon during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. EFG International AG purchased a new stake in Icon during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Icon in the fourth quarter worth about $54,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Icon in the third quarter worth approximately $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 worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on ICLR. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Icon from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Mizuho increased their target price on Icon from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Icon from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Bank of America upped their price target on Icon from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised Icon from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $126.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $173.19.

Icon Stock Performance

Icon stock opened at $167.72 on Monday. Icon Plc has a 12 month low of $66.57 and a 12 month high of $211.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $12.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G ratio of 8.23 and a beta of 1.22. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $141.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.18.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.07. Icon had a return on equity of 8.73% and a net margin of 5.35%.The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.43 earnings per share. Icon's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Icon Plc will post 9.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.