ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) Short Interest Update

ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR - Get Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,910,000 shares, a decrease of 16.2% from the March 31st total of 2,280,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,150,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days. Approximately 2.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of ICON Public from $192.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of ICON Public from $180.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of ICON Public in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut ICON Public from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $265.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of ICON Public from $262.00 to $208.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.33.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ICON Public

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tributary Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ICON Public by 116.1% during the 4th quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 3,950 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $828,000 after acquiring an additional 2,122 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of ICON Public by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 177,761 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $37,279,000 after acquiring an additional 11,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in ICON Public by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC now owns 64,038 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $13,342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,466 shares during the last quarter. 95.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ICON Public Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ICLR traded up $2.77 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $141.62. The stock had a trading volume of 931,804 shares, compared to its average volume of 993,586. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $161.85 and a 200-day moving average of $192.88. ICON Public has a 12-month low of $133.28 and a 12-month high of $347.72. The company has a market capitalization of $11.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.23. 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 (NASDAQ:ICLR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The medical research company reported $3.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.47 earnings per share. ICON Public's revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that ICON Public will post 13.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.