Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Decreases Stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lowered its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 100,297 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 4,810 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $7,425,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EW. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 7.7% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 126,764 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,951,000 after purchasing an additional 9,011 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $203,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.9% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 239,392 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $15,797,000 after purchasing an additional 2,188 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 66.6% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 77,245 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,097,000 after purchasing an additional 30,892 shares during the period. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 66.2% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 12,964 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $855,000 after purchasing an additional 5,164 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on EW. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE EW opened at $72.89 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.46, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.89. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a one year low of $58.93 and a one year high of $96.12. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.35.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 72.93% and a return on equity of 19.40%. As a group, analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.78, for a total transaction of $796,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,387 shares in the company, valued at $2,150,791.86. This represents a 27.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.75, for a total transaction of $492,375.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,555,402. The trade was a 12.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 37,739 shares of company stock valued at $2,799,104. 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.