IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) Short Interest Down 9.7% in March

IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,890,000 shares, a decrease of 9.7% from the March 15th total of 3,200,000 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 997,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days.

IQVIA Trading Down 0.6 %

IQV stock traded down $1.33 during trading on Monday, hitting $232.90. The company had a trading volume of 46,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 969,994. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.13, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. IQVIA has a 52-week low of $167.42 and a 52-week high of $261.73. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $243.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $220.87.

IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The medical research company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.82 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.80 billion. IQVIA had a return on equity of 29.32% and a net margin of 9.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.54 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that IQVIA will post 10.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ari Bousbib sold 31,678 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.53, for a total value of $7,936,289.34. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 796,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,610,278.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Ari Bousbib sold 31,678 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.53, for a total transaction of $7,936,289.34. Following the sale, the insider now owns 796,752 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,610,278.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Eric Sherbet sold 1,000 shares of IQVIA stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.50, for a total transaction of $241,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,031,894. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,285 shares of company stock worth $10,331,003 in the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of IQVIA in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $408,232,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in shares of IQVIA by 1,852.5% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,066,764 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $423,466,000 after buying an additional 1,960,914 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of IQVIA by 19.1% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,942,761 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,335,754,000 after buying an additional 952,850 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new position in shares of IQVIA in the 3rd quarter valued at $148,096,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in IQVIA by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,078,187 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,877,071,000 after acquiring an additional 704,278 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on IQVIA from $226.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of IQVIA from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. SVB Leerink began coverage on IQVIA in a research report on Monday, February 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. Leerink Partnrs reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of IQVIA in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Guggenheim cut IQVIA from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, IQVIA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $256.80.

IQVIA Company Profile

IQVIA Holdings Inc engages in the provision of advanced analytics, technology solutions, and clinical research services to the life sciences industry in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates through three segments: Technology & Analytics Solutions, Research & Development Solutions, and Contract Sales & Medical Solutions.