Stifel Nicolaus Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Stock

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) had its price target hoisted by stock analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $70.00 to $75.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price suggests a potential upside of 3.15% from the stock’s previous close.

EW has been the topic of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $71.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Daiwa America lowered Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.00.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 2.0 %

EW stock traded down $1.49 on Thursday, hitting $72.71. 815,732 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,635,760. Edwards Lifesciences has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $96.12. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $68.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46. The stock has a market cap of $42.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total transaction of $1,647,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 198,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. This trade represents a 11.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total value of $347,550.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,262,521.36. The trade was a 9.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,000 shares of company stock worth $2,657,000 over the last quarter. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 9.2% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 478,418 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,571,000 after acquiring an additional 40,348 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.8% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,825,230 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $168,597,000 after buying an additional 50,124 shares in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 91.7% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 749,524 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $49,461,000 after buying an additional 358,556 shares in the last quarter. RiverPark Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 58.1% in the third quarter. RiverPark Advisors LLC now owns 20,639 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 7,583 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 40.0% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 36,745 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,394,000 after purchasing an additional 10,492 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

About Edwards Lifesciences

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.