Ostrum Asset Management Cuts Stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Ostrum Asset Management decreased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,426 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,050 shares during the period. Ostrum Asset Management’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $1,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norinchukin Bank The increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 448,700 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,217,000 after buying an additional 6,593 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,376,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,995,208 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $221,743,000 after purchasing an additional 653,577 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 66.5% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 270,611 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $20,033,000 after purchasing an additional 108,057 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 88.2% during the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 5,780 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 2,709 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.48, for a total transaction of $27,792.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,569,414.24. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 6,500 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.75, for a total value of $492,375.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,555,402. This trade represents a 12.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 71,853 shares of company stock valued at $5,163,062. 1.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on EW shares. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wolfe Research cut Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays raised their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.55.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of EW opened at $71.56 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.89. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $71.31 and its 200-day moving average is $70.92. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $95.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.27, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.15.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate 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.