Short Interest in ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) Expands By 25.4%

ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,530,000 shares, a growth of 25.4% from the April 30th total of 1,220,000 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,450,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ICLR. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. grew its position in shares of ICON Public by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 1,657 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in ICON Public in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc boosted its stake in ICON Public by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc now owns 55,766 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $9,758,000 after purchasing an additional 4,053 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of ICON Public by 23.7% in the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 808 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $141,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP lifted its stake in shares of ICON Public by 11.3% in the first quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 6,874 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,203,000 after buying an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ICLR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen downgraded 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 report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays lowered their price target on ICON Public from $165.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of ICON Public from $192.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of ICON Public from $180.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on ICON Public from $200.00 to $173.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ICON Public has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $213.08.

ICON Public Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of ICLR traded down $4.79 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $134.82. 1,262,823 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,069,395. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. ICON Public has a 1 year low of $125.10 and a 1 year high of $347.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.15, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.15. The business's 50-day moving average price is $140.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $179.42.

ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $3.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.17 by $0.02. ICON Public had a net margin of 9.56% and a return on equity of 11.81%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.47 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ICON Public will post 13.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.