MUFG Securities EMEA plc Buys 3,723 Shares of IQVIA Holdings Inc. $IQV

MUFG Securities EMEA plc increased its stake in shares of IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) by 114.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,977 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,723 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc’s holdings in IQVIA were worth $1,573,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of IQV. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in IQVIA during the third quarter valued at $676,698,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in IQVIA during the fourth quarter valued at $497,445,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in IQVIA by 130.2% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,555,298 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $245,099,000 after purchasing an additional 879,701 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in IQVIA by 108.2% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 915,183 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $173,830,000 after purchasing an additional 475,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in IQVIA by 15.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,773,984 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $526,891,000 after purchasing an additional 367,204 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IQV has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of IQVIA from $290.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets set a $250.00 price target on shares of IQVIA in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of IQVIA from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Barclays raised shares of IQVIA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 target price on shares of IQVIA in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.69.

IQVIA Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of IQV opened at $180.52 on Wednesday. IQVIA Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $136.41 and a twelve month high of $247.04. The company has a market cap of $30.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $170.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $195.83.

IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The medical research company reported $2.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.07. IQVIA had a net margin of 8.33% and a return on equity of 30.50%. The business had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.70 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. IQVIA has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.650-12.950 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that IQVIA Holdings Inc. will post 11.57 EPS for the current year.

IQVIA declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to reacquire up to 6.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.