Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Decreases Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 28.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,111,836 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 437,338 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $82,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 138.7% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 530 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 7.7% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,856 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $782,000 after acquiring an additional 852 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,282 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,006,000 after acquiring an additional 8,346 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the 3rd quarter worth $303,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 199.1% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 4,391 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 2,923 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 6,164 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total value of $428,459.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,106,859.33. This trade represents a 9.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 9,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.96, for a total transaction of $645,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,189,770.56. This represents a 16.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 51,303 shares of company stock valued at $3,715,776. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:EW opened at $71.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.23, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.45. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 52-week low of $58.93 and a 52-week high of $96.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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, equities research analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EW has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research lowered Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays increased their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.95.

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.