Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.03 EPS

Key Points

• Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) reported quarterly earnings of $2.83 per share, falling short of the expected $3.28 by $0.45.
• The company's stock dropped to $192.60 following the earnings announcement, with a market capitalization of $15.55 billion and a P/E ratio of 19.81.
• Recent analyst upgrades include price target increases from Mizuho, Rothschild & Co, and UBS Group, reflecting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Icon's shares.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR - Get Free Report) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The medical research company reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.28 by $0.03, Briefing.com reports. Icon had a net margin of 9.82% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.35 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis.

Icon Stock Performance

Shares of ICLR opened at $192.60 on Thursday. Icon has a one year low of $125.10 and a one year high of $284.98. The company has a 50-day moving average of $178.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $158.00. The stock has a market cap of $15.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.81, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Institutional Trading of Icon

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Icon by 11.5% in the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 541 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Icon by 58.7% in the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 781 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Icon in the second quarter worth approximately $212,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Icon in the second quarter worth approximately $254,000. Finally, White Knight Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Icon in the second quarter worth approximately $262,000. 95.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ICLR has been the subject of several research reports. Baird R W upgraded shares of Icon from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Icon from $173.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of Icon from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $184.00 to $236.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Icon from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Rothschild Redb upgraded shares of Icon from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $210.64.

Icon Company 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.