Avidity Partners Management LP Purchases Shares of 4,400 IQVIA Holdings Inc. $IQV

Avidity Partners Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 4,400 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $992,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bollard Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of IQVIA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in shares of IQVIA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,052,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of IQVIA by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 962,139 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $216,876,000 after purchasing an additional 7,236 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of IQVIA by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,089 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $471,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of IQVIA by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,904 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,556,000 after purchasing an additional 985 shares in the last quarter. 89.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded shares of IQVIA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $174.00 to $213.00 in a report on Monday, March 9th. Barclays upgraded shares of IQVIA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 6th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of IQVIA from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price target on shares of IQVIA in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of IQVIA from $290.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.13.

IQVIA Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE IQV opened at $181.10 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.23 billion, a PE ratio of 22.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. IQVIA Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $153.01 and a 52 week high of $247.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $173.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $193.68.

IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The medical research company reported $2.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $4.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.10 billion. IQVIA had a net margin of 8.33% and a return on equity of 30.50%. The company’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.70 EPS. IQVIA has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.650-12.950 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that IQVIA Holdings Inc. will post 11.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IQVIA announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to buy up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

IQVIA Profile

IQVIA (NYSE: IQV) is a global provider of advanced analytics, technology solutions and contract research services to the life sciences industry. The company combines clinical research capabilities with large-scale health data and analytics to support drug development, regulatory reporting, commercial strategy and real?world evidence generation. IQVIA traces its current form to the combination of Quintiles and IMS Health announced in 2016 and subsequently rebranded as IQVIA, bringing together long-established clinical research operations and extensive healthcare information assets.

IQVIA’s principal activities include outsourced clinical development services (acting as a contract research organization for phases I–IV), real?world evidence and observational research, regulatory and safety services, and a suite of technology platforms that enable data integration, analytics and operational management.