ICON PLC (NASDAQ:ICLR) Receives $198.08 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of ICON PLC (NASDAQ:ICLR - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fifteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $203.42.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of ICON from $180.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. TD Cowen downgraded shares of ICON from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $254.00 to $157.00 in a report on Monday, April 14th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of ICON from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $224.00 in a report on Thursday. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of ICON from $165.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of ICON from $290.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ICON

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ICLR. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its position in shares of ICON by 2.6% in the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 2,993,652 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $435,427,000 after acquiring an additional 75,465 shares during the period. Ninety One North America Inc. boosted its position in shares of ICON by 20.5% in the second quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 428,851 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $62,376,000 after acquiring an additional 72,945 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of ICON by 15,701.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 68,421 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $119,730,000 after acquiring an additional 67,988 shares during the period. Running Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of ICON by 29.2% in the second quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 107,218 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $15,595,000 after acquiring an additional 24,260 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of ICON by 112.0% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 37,456 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $5,448,000 after acquiring an additional 19,789 shares during the period. 95.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ICON Stock Up 16.2%

Shares of ICLR stock traded up $27.12 on Monday, hitting $195.01. The stock had a trading volume of 4,523,663 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,384,239. The business has a 50 day moving average of $143.46 and a 200 day moving average of $164.43. The stock has a market cap of $15.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. ICON has a 12-month low of $125.10 and a 12-month high of $338.67.

ICON (NASDAQ:ICLR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.08. ICON had a net margin of 9.82% and a return on equity of 10.94%. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.75 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that ICON will post 13.38 EPS for the current year.

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.