Franklin Resources Inc. Has $545.41 Million Position in Icon Plc $ICLR

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,993,336 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 239,808 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Icon were worth $545,410,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in Icon during the second quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Icon by 19.3% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 28,145 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,094,000 after purchasing an additional 4,546 shares during the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Icon by 97.6% in the 2nd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 71,360 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,379,000 after purchasing an additional 35,253 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Icon during the 2nd quarter worth $212,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Icon by 58.7% during the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 781 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. 95.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Icon Stock Up 1.9%

NASDAQ:ICLR opened at $152.24 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $118.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.68. The company has a market cap of $11.66 billion, a PE ratio of 24.71, a P/E/G ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.26. Icon Plc has a one year low of $66.57 and a one year high of $211.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Icon from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $119.00 price target on shares of Icon in a research note on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Icon from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Icon from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered shares of Icon to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.44.

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.