Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) Raised to Buy at Rothschild & Co Redburn

Key Points

• Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) was upgraded from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating by Rothschild & Co Redburn, with a new price target of $236.00, suggesting a potential upside of 32.70%.
• Other analysts including UBS and Evercore ISI raised their price targets on Icon to $240.00, indicating widespread confidence in the stock, which currently holds an average rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Icon's latest earnings report showed a profit of $3.26 per share, exceeding projections, although revenue fell 4.8% year-over-year.

Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR - Free Report) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $236.00 target price on the medical research company's stock, up from their previous target price of $184.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Icon from $155.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Icon from $170.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Icon from $170.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $200.00 price objective (down from $225.00) on shares of Icon in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Icon from $187.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Icon presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $219.64.

Icon Price Performance

ICLR stock traded down $1.48 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $174.88. 1,260,138 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 921,298. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $165.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $158.63. Icon has a one year low of $125.10 and a one year high of $310.54. The company has a market cap of $14.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.08. Icon had a return on equity of 10.95% and a net margin of 9.82%.The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.75 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Icon has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.000-14.000 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Icon will post 13.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Icon

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ICLR. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Icon by 67.4% in the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,184,870 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,045,039,000 after buying an additional 2,893,946 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P acquired a new position in shares of Icon in the second quarter worth $238,256,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Icon in the second quarter worth $158,639,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Icon by 587.9% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,151,328 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $167,461,000 after purchasing an additional 983,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Icon in the 2nd quarter valued at $94,814,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.61% of the company's stock.

About Icon

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.