United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Buys 9,779 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 64.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 24,859 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,779 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $1,840,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EW. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter valued at about $54,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on EW shares. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.55.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.76, for a total transaction of $852,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,315,301.36. The trade was a 26.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 9,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.81, for a total transaction of $663,195.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 47,206 shares in the company, valued at $3,295,450.86. This represents a 16.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 71,853 shares of company stock worth $5,163,062 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE EW opened at $71.56 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $58.93 and a 12 month high of $95.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $71.31 and its 200 day moving average is $70.85. The stock has a market cap of $42.07 billion, a PE ratio of 10.27, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.15.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued 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 net margin of 72.93% and a return on equity of 19.40%. Research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.