IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) Declares Stock Repurchase Plan

IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 7th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the medical research company to buy up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

IQVIA Price Performance

IQV traded up $2.48 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $178.95. 1,803,056 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,754,590. 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 simple moving average of $170.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $200.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.18. IQVIA has a one year low of $134.65 and a one year high of $247.04.

IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. IQVIA had a return on equity of 30.50% and a net margin of 8.33%.The company’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.70 EPS. IQVIA has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.650-12.950 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that IQVIA will post 11.5 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets set a $250.00 price objective on IQVIA in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 target price on shares of IQVIA in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded IQVIA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, April 19th. Barclays upgraded shares of IQVIA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of IQVIA from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.69.

About IQVIA

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.