Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Sells 265 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. decreased its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,486 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 265 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $924,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 86.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,532,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,080,845,000 after purchasing an additional 14,610,123 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at about $555,939,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,132,036 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,117,845,000 after acquiring an additional 6,537,494 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 475.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,243,976 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $314,182,000 after acquiring an additional 3,506,886 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter worth about $213,844,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 500 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.76, for a total value of $34,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 23,189 shares in the company, valued at $1,594,475.64. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.76, for a total transaction of $852,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,561 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,315,301.36. The trade was a 26.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 62,553 shares of company stock valued at $4,513,064 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $82.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE EW opened at $71.12 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $71.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.45. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $58.93 and a fifty-two week high of $96.12. 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 company has a market cap of $41.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.20, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

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.