Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) Director Sells $439,804.33 in Stock

Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) Director Ciaran Murray sold 2,677 shares of Icon stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.29, for a total value of $439,804.33. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,452 shares of the company’s stock, 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 accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Icon Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of ICLR opened at $163.15 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Icon Plc has a 12-month low of $66.57 and a 12-month high of $203.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.49 billion, a PE ratio of 38.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.94 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $162.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.24.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The medical research company reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2 billion. Icon had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 3.99%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Icon Plc will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ICLR. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Icon from $164.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Icon from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of Icon from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $126.00 to $185.00 in a report on Thursday, June 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Icon from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Icon from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $170.40.

Institutional Trading of Icon

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. bought a new position in Icon during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $12,021,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor bought a new stake in Icon in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,807,000. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP increased its stake in Icon by 27.1% in the second quarter. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP now owns 1,535,462 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $266,725,000 after purchasing an additional 327,314 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in Icon by 463.8% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 71,817 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $12,475,000 after purchasing an additional 59,078 shares during the period. Finally, Polianta Ltd acquired a new stake in Icon in the second quarter worth $1,876,000. 95.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.