Wellington Management Group LLP Increases Position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 86.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,532,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 14,610,123 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 0.05% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $2,080,845,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lantz Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 25.3% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 3,236 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 7.4% in the second quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $474,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the second quarter valued at $39,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.3% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 46,353 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the second quarter valued at $137,000. 79.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 2.4 %

EW stock opened at $72.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $42.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.45, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12 month low of $58.93 and a 12 month high of $96.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $68.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.76.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on EW shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Daiwa America downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.35.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total value of $1,647,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 198,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,084,848.66. This represents a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $347,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,262,521.36. This trade represents a 9.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,657,000 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Company 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.