Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Downgraded to “Hold” at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $70.00 price objective on the medical research company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $85.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on EW. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from an underperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. TD Cowen cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a buy rating to a hold rating and cut their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Baird R W downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $79.82.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

EW stock opened at $66.84 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $69.89 and a 200-day moving average of $82.86. The company has a current ratio of 3.71, a quick ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.13. Edwards Lifesciences has a 12 month low of $58.93 and a 12 month high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 24.55% and a return on equity of 22.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total value of $330,400.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,530.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $3,101,530.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $87,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 29,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,051,843.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 16,250 shares of company stock worth $1,218,138. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% in the second quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 23,484 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,169,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. City State Bank boosted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 16.5% during the second quarter. City State Bank now owns 917 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. boosted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.7% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 771 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 6.0% during the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 2,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.