Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) Shares Break Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $146.73 and traded as high as $164.95. Icon shares last traded at $164.50, with a volume of 1,020,185 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Icon from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Icon from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Icon from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of Icon from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $126.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Icon from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $174.73.

Icon Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $166.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $146.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market cap of $12.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.54, a PEG ratio of 7.61 and a beta of 1.24.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The medical research company reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2 billion. Icon had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 3.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Icon Plc will post 9.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Icon

In other news, Director Ciaran Murray sold 2,677 shares of Icon stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.29, for a total transaction of $439,804.33. Following the sale, the director owned 20,452 shares in the company, valued at $3,360,059.08. This trade represents a 11.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director John Climax sold 5,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $875,875.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $365,225. The trade was a 70.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 22,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,887,139. 44.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Icon

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new position in Icon in the second quarter valued at about $594,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Icon during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $376,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Icon by 120.0% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 616 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Icon by 511.4% during the 2nd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 12,192 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,118,000 after buying an additional 10,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Icon during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,337,000. 95.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Icon Company Profile

ICON plc is a global contract research and clinical development organization headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company provides outsourced services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and government organizations, supporting the development and commercialization of healthcare products.

Its services span clinical trial management, clinical and regulatory consulting, data management, biostatistics, medical writing, pharmacovigilance, laboratory services, medical imaging and commercialization support.