Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Sells 30,369 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 78.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,220 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 30,369 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $786,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Martin Capital Advisors LLP grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Martin Capital Advisors LLP now owns 25,490 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,944,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 8,548 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $817,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 771 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 2,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 3,840 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $367,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $86.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Barclays increased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $107.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.29, for a total transaction of $466,450.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $4,378,659.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.29, for a total transaction of $466,450.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $4,378,659.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian purchased 580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 3,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $280,198.32. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 81,099 shares of company stock worth $7,003,553. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Down 1.1 %

EW stock traded down $0.96 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $87.03. 2,633,440 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,393,813. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $89.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 3.75. The company has a market cap of $52.44 billion, a PE ratio of 37.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.11. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a one year low of $60.57 and a one year high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 23.01%. Research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.