ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) Short Interest Update

ICON Public Limited (NASDAQ:ICLR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,760,000 shares, a growth of 18.1% from the September 15th total of 1,490,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 572,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

ICON Public Price Performance

NASDAQ ICLR traded down $1.67 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $293.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 221,445 shares, compared to its average volume of 570,116. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.19 billion, a PE ratio of 35.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $304.63 and a 200 day moving average of $312.85. ICON Public has a one year low of $221.20 and a one year high of $347.72.

ICON Public (NASDAQ:ICLR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.14 billion. ICON Public had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 8.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.96 EPS. Analysts expect that ICON Public will post 14.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ICON Public

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ICLR. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS increased its position in shares of ICON Public by 15.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 95,753 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $30,016,000 after purchasing an additional 13,163 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of ICON Public by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 261 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Sara Bay Financial bought a new position in shares of ICON Public during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,143,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in shares of ICON Public during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in shares of ICON Public during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. 95.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on ICON Public from $368.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of ICON Public from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of ICON Public to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of ICON Public from $350.00 to $330.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of ICON Public from $360.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $346.09.

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.