ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fifteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $232.67.

A number of research firms recently commented on ICLR. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of ICON Public from $290.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of ICON Public from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $254.00 to $157.00 in a research note on Monday. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $165.00 target price (down from $240.00) on shares of ICON Public in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Mizuho lowered their price target on ICON Public from $238.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on ICON Public from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd.

ICON Public Stock Down 3.6 %

ICLR traded down $5.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $138.43. The stock had a trading volume of 155,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 895,213. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $176.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $208.45. The company has a market capitalization of $11.18 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.26. ICON Public has a twelve month low of $138.45 and a twelve month high of $347.72.

ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The medical research company reported $3.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.41 by $0.01. ICON Public had a return on equity of 11.81% and a net margin of 9.56%. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. On average, research analysts predict that ICON Public will post 13.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ICON Public

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tributary Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of ICON Public by 116.1% in the fourth quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 3,950 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $828,000 after buying an additional 2,122 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in ICON Public by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 433 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP raised its position in ICON Public by 472.2% during the fourth quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 6,174 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,295,000 after acquiring an additional 5,095 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in ICON Public by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 177,761 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $37,279,000 after purchasing an additional 11,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of ICON Public by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC now owns 64,038 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $13,342,000 after purchasing an additional 1,466 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.61% of the company's stock.

About ICON Public

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.