Coho Partners Ltd. Invests $33.65 Million in Icon Plc $ICLR

Coho Partners Ltd. bought a new position in Icon Plc (NASDAQ:ICLR) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 231,343 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,649,000. Icon comprises approximately 2.5% of Coho Partners Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ICLR. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Icon by 22.8% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 593 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp bought a new stake in shares of Icon in the 1st quarter worth approximately $862,000. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Icon by 7.6% in the first quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,174 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Icon in the first quarter valued at $101,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. lifted its stake in Icon by 9.2% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 5,172 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $905,000 after buying an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ICLR shares. Barclays raised their target price on Icon from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Rothschild Redb raised Icon from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Icon in a report on Friday, September 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Icon in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Icon from $222.00 to $224.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Icon has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.64.

Icon Price Performance

Shares of Icon stock opened at $188.46 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $176.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $157.26. Icon Plc has a 52 week low of $125.10 and a 52 week high of $301.45. The stock has a market cap of $15.22 billion, a PE ratio of 19.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.23.

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $3.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.08. Icon had a net margin of 9.82% and a return on equity of 10.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.75 earnings per share. Icon’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Icon has set its FY 2025 guidance at 13.000-14.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Icon Plc will post 13.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Icon

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.