California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 288,681 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 26.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 787,027 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 288,681 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.13% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $58,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $82.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Down 1.0 %

Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $71.77 on Wednesday. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a one year low of $58.93 and a one year high of $95.25. The business’s fifty day moving average is $71.59 and its 200 day moving average is $70.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.19 billion, a PE ratio of 10.30, 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 (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.87, for a total value of $797,287.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,387 shares in the company, valued at $2,153,526.69. This represents a 27.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.48, for a total transaction of $27,792.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,414.24. This trade represents a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,553 shares of company stock valued at $4,513,064 in the last ninety days. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences 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.