Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) Stock Rating Upgraded by Bank of America

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) was upgraded by Bank of America from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $185.00 price objective on the medical research company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 12.46% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. William Blair raised shares of Icon to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Icon from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Icon from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Icon in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $195.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Icon in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $174.73.

Icon Price Performance

Shares of ICLR opened at $164.50 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $166.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $146.73. The company has a market capitalization of $12.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.62, a P/E/G ratio of 7.59 and a beta of 1.24. Icon has a fifty-two week low of $66.57 and a fifty-two week high of $203.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.26 EPS. Research analysts predict that Icon will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Icon

In other news, Director Ciaran Murray sold 2,677 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $3,360,059.08. This represents a 11.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Ronan Murphy sold 5,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $875,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $673,225. This represents a 56.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 22,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,887,139. 44.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new position in shares of Icon during the 2nd quarter worth $594,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Icon in the second quarter valued at about $376,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in Icon by 120.0% during the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 616 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Icon by 511.4% during the second quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 12,192 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,118,000 after purchasing an additional 10,198 shares during the period. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Icon during the second quarter worth about $6,337,000. 95.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Icon

ICON plc is a global contract research and clinical development organization headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company provides outsourced services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and government organizations, supporting the development and commercialization of healthcare products.

Its services span clinical trial management, clinical and regulatory consulting, data management, biostatistics, medical writing, pharmacovigilance, laboratory services, medical imaging and commercialization support.