Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 239,808 Shares of Icon Plc $ICLR

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,993,336 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 239,808 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 3.71% of Icon worth $545,410,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Toth Financial Advisory Corp bought a new stake in Icon during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in Icon during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Icon during the third quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC bought a new position in Icon in the third quarter valued at approximately $78,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Icon by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 541 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ICLR shares. Bank of America restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Icon in a report on Monday, June 1st. Leerink Partners set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Icon in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Icon from $120.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Icon from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Icon in a report on Friday, May 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Icon currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $156.44.

Icon Stock Performance

ICLR opened at $152.24 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $118.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.68. Icon Plc has a 1 year low of $66.57 and a 1 year high of $211.00. The company has a market capitalization of $11.66 billion, a PE ratio of 24.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.26.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 10th. The medical research company reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.47 by $0.05. Icon had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 5.98%.The company had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Icon Plc will post 9.74 EPS for the current year.

Icon Company Profile

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.