Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on ICLR. Bank of America raised their price target on Icon from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. DA Davidson set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Icon in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Icon in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Leerink Partners set a $145.00 target price on shares of Icon in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Icon from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Icon presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $168.73.

Icon Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:ICLR opened at $177.53 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.59, a P/E/G ratio of 8.85 and a beta of 1.22. Icon has a 1 year low of $66.57 and a 1 year high of $203.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $154.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.54.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The medical research company reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2 billion. Icon had a return on equity of 8.73% and a net margin of 5.35%.The company’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.26 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Icon will post 9.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Icon

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ICLR. Toth Financial Advisory Corp acquired a new stake in Icon in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. EFG International AG acquired a new position in Icon during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Icon in the fourth quarter worth about $54,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Icon by 21.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 391 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Icon in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $71,000. 95.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.