Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $366.48 Million Holdings in Icon Plc $ICLR

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its stake in Icon Plc by 10.3% in the first quarter, ending with 3.31 million shares valued at about $366.5 million, or 4.10% of the company.
• Other institutional investors have also been active in Icon, and overall institutional ownership stands at 95.61%, indicating strong professional investor interest in the stock.
• Analysts are split on Icon, with a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $173.19; the company also recently beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR - Free Report) by 10.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,311,771 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 310,236 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 4.10% of Icon worth $366,481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Toth Financial Advisory Corp bought a new stake in shares of Icon during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. EFG International AG bought a new position in Icon in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in Icon in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Icon in the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in Icon in the third quarter valued at approximately $78,000. Institutional investors own 95.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Leerink Partners set a $145.00 price target on shares of Icon in a report on Thursday, May 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Icon from $160.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Icon from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. UBS Group set a $160.00 target price on Icon in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Icon from $168.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $173.19.

Icon Price Performance

ICLR stock opened at $166.10 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56, a PEG ratio of 8.23 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $142.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $137.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. Icon Plc has a 52-week low of $66.57 and a 52-week high of $211.00.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 23rd. The medical research company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. Icon had a return on equity of 8.73% and a net margin of 5.35%.The business's revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.43 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Icon Plc will post 9.43 EPS for the current 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.

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