GWN Securities Inc. Invests $658,000 in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

GWN Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 9,525 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $658,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gallacher Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth about $222,000. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 51.9% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 288,443 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $21,353,000 after purchasing an additional 98,554 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 25.9% in the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 6,766 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $501,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares in the last quarter. Van Strum & Towne Inc. raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Van Strum & Towne Inc. now owns 7,134 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Midwest Professional Planners LTD. raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. now owns 36,784 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,723,000 after purchasing an additional 2,343 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 6,164 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $428,459.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,106,859.33. The trade was a 9.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 9,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.96, for a total transaction of $645,620.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,189,770.56. This trade represents a 16.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 51,303 shares of company stock valued at $3,715,776. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $82.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $69.37 on Monday. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.34. The company has a market cap of $40.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.95, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS 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.