Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Given New $75.00 Price Target at Stifel Nicolaus

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) had its price target increased by Stifel Nicolaus from $70.00 to $75.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the medical research company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Daiwa America cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $70.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.35.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $72.43 on Thursday. Edwards Lifesciences has a 52-week low of $58.93 and a 52-week high of $96.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a fifty day moving average of $68.55 and a 200-day moving average of $74.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.67. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 70.82% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $347,550.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $3,262,521.36. This represents a 9.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total transaction of $1,647,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 198,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. The trade was a 11.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock worth $2,657,000 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 14,610,123 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,265,633 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,733,270,000 after purchasing an additional 256,538 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,782,909 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,827,347,000 after acquiring an additional 809,605 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,521,147 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $889,050,000 after acquiring an additional 284,918 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,078,311 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $599,078,000 after acquiring an additional 806,705 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

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.