River Road Asset Management LLC Boosts Stake in Icon Plc $ICLR

River Road Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) by 55.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 475,413 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 169,860 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC owned about 0.59% of Icon worth $86,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ICLR. Toth Financial Advisory Corp acquired a new position in shares of Icon in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. EFG International AG acquired a new stake in shares of Icon during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Icon during the third quarter valued at $33,000. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Icon during the 4th quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Icon during the 3rd quarter worth about $71,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.61% of the company’s stock.

Icon Stock Performance

Icon stock opened at $146.00 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $124.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.28. Icon Plc has a 52 week low of $66.57 and a 52 week high of $211.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.70, a PEG ratio of 11.32 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 17th. The medical research company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.47 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.99 billion. Icon had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 5.98%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.43 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Icon Plc will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ICLR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Icon from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Icon from $120.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Icon from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Bank of America reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Icon in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Icon in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have given 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 target price of $156.44.

About Icon

Icon plc (NASDAQ: ICLR) is a global provider of outsourced drug development and clinical research services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. The company partners with clients at all stages of the product life cycle, offering expertise in protocol design, trial execution and regulatory compliance across a broad range of therapeutic areas.

Icon’s service portfolio encompasses clinical trial management, data management and biostatistics, medical imaging, pharmacovigilance and safety monitoring, laboratory sciences and specialized analytical solutions.