Natixis Buys 112,637 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Natixis lifted its position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 84.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 246,211 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 112,637 shares during the quarter. Natixis’ holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $18,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $2,977,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Bowman & Co S.C. lifted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.2% in the fourth 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. raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 54,589 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,041,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,180 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $383,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pegasus Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. now owns 42,628 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,156,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EW has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays increased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.55.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.76, for a total transaction of $852,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,315,301.36. This trade represents a 26.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 9,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.81, for a total value of $663,195.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 47,206 shares in the company, valued at $3,295,450.86. This trade represents a 16.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 71,853 shares of company stock worth $5,163,062. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of EW stock opened at $71.56 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $71.31 and a 200 day moving average of $70.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.15. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 52 week low of $58.93 and a 52 week high of $95.25.

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 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current 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.