Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Raises Stock Position in Icon Plc $ICLR

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) by 50.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 788,828 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 265,858 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Icon were worth $87,262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT acquired a new stake in shares of Icon in the 1st quarter worth approximately $69,379,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Icon by 99.4% in the 1st quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 16,066 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,778,000 after purchasing an additional 8,008 shares in the last quarter. Advisortrust Partners LLC raised its holdings in Icon by 84.8% during the first quarter. Advisortrust Partners LLC now owns 3,756 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $416,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Icon by 80.4% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 8,835 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $978,000 after purchasing an additional 3,938 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Icon by 804.8% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,312 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on ICLR. Barclays upped their target price on Icon from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Icon from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Icon from $164.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Piper Sandler cut shares of Icon to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Icon from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.73.

Icon Stock Performance

NASDAQ ICLR opened at $177.53 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Icon Plc has a fifty-two week low of $66.57 and a fifty-two week high of $203.91. The business has a fifty day moving average of $154.79 and a 200-day moving average of $135.54. The stock has a market cap of $13.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.85 and a beta of 1.22.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The medical research company reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.01. The business 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Icon Plc will post 9.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Icon 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.