Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of IQVIA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:IQV) by 14.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,771 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,407 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in IQVIA were worth $2,903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of IQVIA in the fourth quarter worth $236,120,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of IQVIA by 396.0% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,134,737 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $222,987,000 after purchasing an additional 905,960 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of IQVIA by 38.7% in 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 during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake 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 worth $437,378,000 after purchasing an additional 583,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in IQVIA by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,405,281 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $277,908,000 after acquiring an additional 452,029 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on IQVIA from $255.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on IQVIA from $260.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Stephens assumed coverage on IQVIA in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on IQVIA from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of IQVIA in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $249.05.

IQVIA Stock Performance

NYSE IQV opened at $185.85 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.77 billion, a PE ratio of 24.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.50. IQVIA Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $179.28 and a 1-year high of $254.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $194.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $208.45. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $2.90 earnings per share (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, research analysts predict that IQVIA Holdings Inc. will post 10.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IQVIA Company Profile

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.