Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Shares Acquired by OFI Invest Asset Management

OFI Invest Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,216 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $1,225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EW. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 9,720.7% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 106,064 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,087,000 after acquiring an additional 104,984 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 6,059 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $462,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 66,570 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,076,000 after acquiring an additional 5,375 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 131.7% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 17,237 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,314,000 after acquiring an additional 9,797 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $206,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on EW shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Edwards Lifesciences from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $105.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $103.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total value of $330,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,530.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 8,617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.68, for a total transaction of $755,538.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,981,354.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total transaction of $330,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,530.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,242 shares of company stock valued at $2,498,870. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE EW traded up $0.80 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $68.92. 4,648,649 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,062,272. The company has a market cap of $41.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.11. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $96.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $80.76 and a 200 day moving average of $85.84. The company has a quick ratio of 2.87, a current ratio of 3.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 24.55% and a return on equity of 22.35%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current year.

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.