HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Grows Stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,980 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 577 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $850,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth $54,000. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 6,164 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total value of $428,459.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,106,859.33. The trade was a 9.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.96, for a total value of $645,620.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,189,770.56. This represents a 16.83 % 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 in the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on EW shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI cut their target price 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. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $82.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE:EW opened at $71.77 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $71.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $95.25. 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 (NYSE:EW) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 72.93% and a return on equity of 19.40%. Equities research analysts forecast 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.