IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $198.52, but opened at $216.66. IQVIA shares last traded at $208.6820, with a volume of 156,821 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on IQV. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $200.00 target price (down from $225.00) on shares of IQVIA in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded IQVIA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on shares of IQVIA in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. HSBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 target price on shares of IQVIA in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of IQVIA from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.71.

IQVIA Trading Up 3.3%

The company has a market cap of $34.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $187.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The medical research company reported $2.90 earnings per share 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 business 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 business earned $2.70 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. IQVIA has set its FY 2026 guidance at 12.650-12.950 EPS. Analysts anticipate that IQVIA Holdings Inc. will post 11.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IQVIA announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 7th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to reacquire up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in IQVIA by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,650,532 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,429,426,000 after buying an additional 159,899 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in IQVIA by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,374,971 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $982,272,000 after purchasing an additional 24,453 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in IQVIA by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,087,380 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $923,276,000 after purchasing an additional 530,672 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in IQVIA by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,799,600 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $856,468,000 after purchasing an additional 528,753 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of IQVIA by 15.3% in 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 during the period. 89.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.