Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 388,129 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 3,085 shares during the period. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $25,613,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 57.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,516,260 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $622,695,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390,137 shares in the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 100,739.7% in the 1st quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 1,406,714 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $134,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405,319 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $124,511,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 162.7% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,465,719 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $140,064,000 after purchasing an additional 907,688 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,782,909 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,827,347,000 after buying an additional 809,605 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE:EW opened at $68.13 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.71, a quick ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $67.13 and a 200-day moving average of $80.08. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1 year low of $58.93 and a 1 year high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 24.55% and a return on equity of 22.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Edwards Lifesciences from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.77.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total value of $330,400.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,101,530.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total transaction of $330,400.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,530.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $87,437.50. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 29,333 shares in the company, valued at $2,051,843.35. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,250 shares of company stock valued at $751,688. 1.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Profile

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation provides products and technologies for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring in the United States, Europe, Japan, and internationally. It offers transcatheter heart valve replacement products for the minimally invasive replacement of aortic heart valves under the Edwards SAPIEN family of valves system; and transcatheter heart valve repair and replacement products to treat mitral and tricuspid valve diseases under the PASCAL PRECISION and Cardioband names.