Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) Now Covered by Analysts at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) in a research report report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a market perform rating and a $175.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Icon in a report on Friday, October 24th. UBS Group set a $220.00 target price on shares of Icon in a report on Friday, October 24th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Icon from $173.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Icon in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Icon from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $184.00 to $236.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.00.

Icon Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of ICLR stock traded down $1.27 on Thursday, hitting $162.18. The stock had a trading volume of 572,006 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,215,958. Icon has a twelve month low of $125.10 and a twelve month high of $228.29. The firm has a market cap of $13.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.95, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $175.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $160.80.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The medical research company reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.28 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. Icon had a net margin of 7.40% and a return on equity of 10.58%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.35 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Icon will post 13.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Icon

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ICLR. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Icon by 67.4% in the 2nd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 7,184,870 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,045,039,000 after acquiring an additional 2,893,946 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Icon by 26.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,637,137 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $811,499,000 after purchasing an additional 975,268 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Icon by 21.0% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,752,008 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $545,730,000 after purchasing an additional 650,379 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Icon by 11.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,427,630 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $599,835,000 after purchasing an additional 341,637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Icon by 739.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,277,293 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $573,526,000 after purchasing an additional 2,886,755 shares during the last quarter. 95.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.