Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Receives $79.40 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-six analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $79.40.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on EW. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $78.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.57, for a total transaction of $327,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,077,593.52. This trade represents a 9.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total value of $1,647,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 198,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. This represents a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,500 shares of company stock worth $2,160,800 over the last three months. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Edwards Lifesciences

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 11,135 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $824,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,057,013 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $301,355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043,484 shares in the last quarter. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST raised its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST now owns 4,800,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $355,344,000 after acquiring an additional 300,000 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 9.2% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 478,418 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,571,000 after purchasing an additional 40,348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AIA Group Ltd grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 91.7% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 749,524 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $49,461,000 after purchasing an additional 358,556 shares during the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EW opened at $70.29 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.46 billion, a PE ratio of 10.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.11. Edwards Lifesciences has a fifty-two week low of $58.93 and a fifty-two week high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 70.82% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Edwards Lifesciences Company 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.