The Goldman Sachs Group Downgrades ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) to Neutral

The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $200.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $250.00.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on ICLR. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of ICON Public from $221.00 to $203.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of ICON Public from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of ICON Public in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $263.00 target price on shares of ICON Public in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on ICON Public from $300.00 to $290.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $272.50.

ICON Public Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of ICLR stock opened at $184.87 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. ICON Public has a 12-month low of $174.93 and a 12-month high of $347.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $192.76 and its 200 day moving average is $226.90.

ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The medical research company reported $3.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.41 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. ICON Public had a return on equity of 11.81% and a net margin of 9.56%. Research analysts expect that ICON Public will post 13.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ICON Public

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ICLR. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc bought a new position in shares of ICON Public during the 3rd quarter valued at about $11,672,000. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its position in shares of ICON Public by 40.6% in the fourth quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 97,102 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $20,363,000 after buying an additional 28,050 shares in the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in ICON Public by 861.1% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,215 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,797,000 after buying an additional 11,840 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in ICON Public by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 177,761 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $37,279,000 after buying an additional 11,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP raised its holdings in shares of ICON Public by 472.2% during the 4th quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 6,174 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,295,000 after acquiring an additional 5,095 shares in the last quarter. 95.61% of the stock is 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.