Ninety One North America Inc. Purchases 72,945 Shares of Icon Plc $ICLR

Key Points

• Ninety One North America Inc. increased its stake in Icon Plc by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter, acquiring an additional 72,945 shares, bringing their total holdings to 428,851 shares.
• Icon Plc reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $3.26, exceeding analysts' expectations by $0.08, but showed a year-over-year revenue decline of 4.8%.
• Analyst ratings on Icon vary, with two firms giving it a Strong Buy rating, while Citigroup lowered its target price from $225.00 to $200.00, indicating mixed sentiments about the stock's performance.

Ninety One North America Inc. increased its position in shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR - Free Report) by 20.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 428,851 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 72,945 shares during the period. Icon accounts for approximately 3.1% of Ninety One North America Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Ninety One North America Inc. owned about 0.53% of Icon worth $62,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $99,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. raised its stake in Icon by 31.0% during the 2nd quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. now owns 50,212 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $7,303,000 after purchasing an additional 11,894 shares during the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Icon during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,565,000. Canoe Financial LP raised its stake in Icon by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 193,851 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $28,196,000 after purchasing an additional 18,174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Icon during the 1st quarter valued at $59,000. 95.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Icon Trading Up 7.1%

Shares of Icon stock opened at $175.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.20. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $173.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $156.55. Icon Plc has a 12-month low of $125.10 and a 12-month high of $303.69.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.18 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.98 billion. Icon had a net margin of 9.82% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $200.00 target price (down from $225.00) on shares of Icon in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Baird R W upgraded shares of Icon from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Icon from $173.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Icon from $222.00 to $224.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Cowen restated a "hold" rating on shares of Icon in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $216.67.

Icon 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.

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