ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) Short Interest Update

ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,390,000 shares, a decline of 6.7% from the March 15th total of 1,490,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 551,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

ICON Public Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ICLR opened at $292.02 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $24.09 billion, a PE ratio of 39.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $316.39 and its 200-day moving average is $280.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. ICON Public has a 52 week low of $181.92 and a 52 week high of $344.77.

ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The medical research company reported $3.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. ICON Public had a net margin of 7.54% and a return on equity of 11.42%. Sell-side analysts predict that ICON Public will post 14.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in ICON Public in the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. Steph & Co. grew its position in shares of ICON Public by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 1,852 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $622,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of ICON Public by 22.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 174 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of ICON Public during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Chartwell Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in ICON Public by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 8,589 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,431,000 after acquiring an additional 1,636 shares in the last quarter. 95.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price target on ICON Public from $325.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $346.00 target price on shares of ICON Public in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of ICON Public from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of ICON Public from $345.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on ICON Public from $295.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $319.45.

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.