Alliancebernstein L.P. Lowers Stock Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lowered its position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 70.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,038,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 4,944,582 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $150,923,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of EW. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on EW. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.95.

Insider Activity

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 6,164 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $428,459.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,106,859.33. The trade was a 9.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.76, for a total value of $34,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 23,189 shares in the company, valued at $1,594,475.64. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 62,553 shares of company stock worth $4,513,064 over the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

NYSE EW opened at $71.77 on Wednesday. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $95.25. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.59. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced 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%. Analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.