ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) Sets New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Shares of ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $137.87 and last traded at $138.97, with a volume of 259891 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $143.54.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ICLR. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $263.00 price objective on shares of ICON Public in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of ICON Public from $221.00 to $203.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of ICON Public from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $200.00 in a report on Friday, March 21st. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of ICON Public in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on ICON Public from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $232.67.

ICON Public Trading Down 2.5 %

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $176.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $208.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $11.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.24.

ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The medical research company reported $3.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.41 by $0.01. ICON Public had a net margin of 9.56% and a return on equity of 11.81%. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. On average, research analysts expect that ICON Public Limited will post 13.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ICON Public

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in ICON Public in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Park Place Capital Corp boosted its stake in ICON Public by 281.4% during the 4th quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 225 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its position in ICON Public by 48.8% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 250 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ICON Public in the 1st quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ICON Public by 64.0% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 433 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the period. 95.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.