IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of IQVIA in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. William Blair upgraded IQVIA to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings raised IQVIA from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (down from $225.00) on shares of IQVIA in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $240.00 target price on IQVIA in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.88.

IQVIA Stock Down 0.5%

IQV stock opened at $260.48 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $222.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $189.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.32, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.18. IQVIA has a fifty-two week low of $154.50 and a fifty-two week high of $265.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71.

IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The medical research company reported $3.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.03 by $0.12. IQVIA had a net margin of 8.10% and a return on equity of 30.25%. The company had revenue of $4.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.81 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. IQVIA has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.800-13.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that IQVIA will post 11.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity at IQVIA

In other news, insider W Richard Staub sold 5,500 shares of IQVIA stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.68, for a total transaction of $1,279,740.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 13,312 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,097,436.16. The trade was a 29.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Eric Sherbet sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.16, for a total value of $1,245,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 20,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,232,110.84. The trade was a 19.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,913 shares of company stock worth $3,098,793. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in IQVIA by 18,735.4% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 49,241,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,514,450,000 after purchasing an additional 48,980,106 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in IQVIA in the second quarter valued at $2,811,292,000. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of IQVIA in the third quarter valued at about $676,698,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of IQVIA during the fourth quarter worth about $497,445,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of IQVIA by 2,628.1% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,675,479 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $377,670,000 after buying an additional 1,614,063 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.62% of the company’s stock.

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.