Prudential Financial Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV)

Prudential Financial Inc. cut its position in shares of IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 104,424 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 9,505 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in IQVIA were worth $20,520,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IQV. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of IQVIA by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,131,734 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,956,087,000 after acquiring an additional 105,504 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in IQVIA by 38.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,887,342 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $684,213,000 after purchasing an additional 804,963 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in IQVIA by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,066,144 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $406,018,000 after purchasing an additional 226,017 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of IQVIA by 46.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,845,711 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $437,378,000 after buying an additional 583,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of IQVIA by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,405,281 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $277,908,000 after buying an additional 452,029 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $263.00 price target (up previously from $261.00) on shares of IQVIA in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of IQVIA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of IQVIA in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup reduced their target price on IQVIA from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on IQVIA from $255.00 to $235.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, IQVIA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $249.05.

IQVIA Stock Performance

IQVIA stock opened at $179.91 on Thursday. IQVIA Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $179.12 and a 1-year high of $253.84. The stock has a market cap of $31.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.50. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $193.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $2.90 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by ($0.21). IQVIA had a net margin of 8.91% and a return on equity of 28.81%. On average, analysts expect that IQVIA Holdings Inc. will post 10.84 EPS for the current year.

About IQVIA

IQVIA Holdings Inc engages in the provision of advanced analytics, technology solutions, and clinical research services to the life sciences industry in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates through three segments: Technology & Analytics Solutions, Research & Development Solutions, and Contract Sales & Medical Solutions.