ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,280,000 shares, a growth of 41.6% from the March 15th total of 1,610,000 shares. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,030,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of ICON Public from $238.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $263.00 price target on shares of ICON Public in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on ICON Public from $221.00 to $203.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $165.00 target price (down previously from $240.00) on shares of ICON Public in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on ICON Public from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $232.67.

ICON Public Stock Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ:ICLR traded up $3.11 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $146.23. 669,766 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 925,996. ICON Public has a 1 year low of $133.28 and a 1 year high of $347.72. The business's 50-day moving average price is $171.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $203.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Institutional Trading of ICON Public

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tributary Capital Management LLC grew its position in ICON Public by 116.1% during 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 during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP lifted its holdings in shares of ICON Public by 472.2% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in ICON Public by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 177,761 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $37,279,000 after buying an additional 11,177 shares during the period. Finally, Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in ICON Public by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC now owns 64,038 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $13,342,000 after buying an additional 1,466 shares during the period. 95.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ICON Public 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.