ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) Stock Rating Upgraded by Leerink Partnrs

ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) was upgraded by research analysts at Leerink Partnrs to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. StockNews.com lowered ICON Public from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of ICON Public in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $368.00 target price on shares of ICON Public in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on ICON Public from $349.00 to $373.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on ICON Public from $355.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ICON Public currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $354.40.

ICON Public Price Performance

Shares of ICLR stock opened at $302.45 on Wednesday. ICON Public has a 52-week low of $221.20 and a 52-week high of $347.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $318.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $318.63.

ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.14 billion. ICON Public had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.57%. ICON Public’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that ICON Public will post 14.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of ICON Public by 22.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 174 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of ICON Public by 17.4% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 283 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Motco increased its holdings in shares of ICON Public by 1.5% in the first quarter. Motco now owns 3,882 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,304,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its holdings in shares of ICON Public by 5.7% in the first quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 1,135 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of ICON Public in the first quarter worth about $31,000. 95.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ICON Public

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.