IQVIA Holdings Inc. $IQV Shares Purchased by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) by 95.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 258,543 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 126,554 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned approximately 0.15% of IQVIA worth $58,278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Profund Advisors LLC increased its holdings in IQVIA by 26.2% in the 4th quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 2,771 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in IQVIA by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 34,339 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,740,000 after purchasing an additional 2,510 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC acquired a new stake in IQVIA in the 4th quarter valued at $203,000. North Dakota State Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of IQVIA during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,306,000. Finally, Soltis Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of IQVIA during the fourth quarter valued at about $233,000. 89.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IQVIA Stock Performance

Shares of IQV stock opened at $172.86 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. The business has a 50 day moving average of $170.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $198.74. IQVIA Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $134.65 and a 52 week high of $247.04. The company has a market cap of $28.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.42, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.18.

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

IQVIA declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to purchase up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IQV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen upgraded IQVIA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $174.00 to $213.00 in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on IQVIA from $270.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on IQVIA from $290.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings downgraded IQVIA from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $250.00 target price on IQVIA in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Two equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.69.

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.