Vanguard Group Inc. Raises Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,132,036 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 6,537,494 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.72% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $5,117,845,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Abacus Planning Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 40,207 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,977,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Bowman & Co S.C. lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Bowman & Co S.C. now owns 12,487 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $924,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 54,589 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,041,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. now owns 42,628 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,156,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,563 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $634,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

EW opened at $70.46 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.89. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1-year low of $58.93 and a 1-year high of $96.12. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $71.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.38.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on EW. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price target (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.95.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.48, for a total value of $27,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 22,588 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,414.24. This represents a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 9,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.96, for a total transaction of $645,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $3,189,770.56. This trade represents a 16.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 51,303 shares of company stock worth $3,715,776. Insiders own 1.29% 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.