878,462 Shares in Icon Plc $ICLR Acquired by Norges Bank

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 878,462 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $160,073,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.09% of Icon at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Icon by 26.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,637,137 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $811,499,000 after purchasing an additional 975,268 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Icon by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,427,630 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $599,835,000 after purchasing an additional 341,637 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Icon by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,753,528 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $481,692,000 after purchasing an additional 719,301 shares during the last quarter. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. raised its position in shares of Icon by 36.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. now owns 1,708,183 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $248,455,000 after purchasing an additional 453,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harris Associates L P acquired a new position in shares of Icon during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $238,256,000. 95.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ICLR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Icon from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Zacks Research downgraded Icon from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Icon from $139.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Barclays boosted their price target on Icon from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $100.00 price target on Icon and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.44.

Icon Trading Up 4.8%

Shares of ICLR opened at $144.12 on Thursday. Icon Plc has a fifty-two week low of $66.57 and a fifty-two week high of $211.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $115.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $140.85. The company has a market capitalization of $11.64 billion, a PE ratio of 23.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.72 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 3rd. The medical research company reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.20 by ($0.68). Icon had a net margin of 5.98% and a return on equity of 9.50%. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.43 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Icon Plc will post 11.51 EPS for the current year.

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.