Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-five brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have issued a hold recommendation and eleven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $79.95.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on EW shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $82.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target 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.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

EW opened at $70.90 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.17, a PEG ratio of 4.82 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 has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $95.73. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.52.

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

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total value of $438,574.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 60,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,613,628.24. The trade was a 8.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 500 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 23,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,594,475.64. This trade 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 quarter. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EW. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 86.3% in 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. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth about $610,895,000. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter worth about $555,939,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 10.4% during the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 475.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,243,976 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $314,182,000 after purchasing an additional 3,506,886 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

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.