Van ECK Associates Corp Has $13.58 Million Stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Van ECK Associates Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 16.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 142,082 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 28,012 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $13,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EW. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the first quarter valued at approximately $531,000. OFI Invest Asset Management boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 43.5% in the first quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 13,886 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,229,000 after acquiring an additional 4,208 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.4% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 330,711 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,603,000 after acquiring an additional 14,087 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 30.9% in the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 181,263 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $17,322,000 after acquiring an additional 42,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FAS Wealth Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 3.3% in the first quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 25,050 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,394,000 after acquiring an additional 806 shares during the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian acquired 580 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $85.74 per share, for a total transaction of $49,729.20. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $280,198.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian purchased 580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $85.74 per share, for a total transaction of $49,729.20. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 3,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $280,198.32. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.54, for a total value of $437,700.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,108,777.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 90,499 shares of company stock worth $7,866,511 in the last quarter. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE EW traded up $1.10 on Friday, reaching $92.18. The company had a trading volume of 701,769 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,422,250. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s fifty day moving average is $88.10 and its 200 day moving average is $85.64. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 52-week low of $60.57 and a 52-week high of $96.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 3.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 23.01%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Bank of America raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Citigroup raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $98.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.18.

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.