Edwards Lifesciences’ (EW) “Equal Weight” Rating Reaffirmed at Morgan Stanley

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $70.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 2.55% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on EW. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $85.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $77.00 to $66.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.77.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

NYSE:EW opened at $68.26 on Friday. Edwards Lifesciences has a 52 week low of $58.93 and a 52 week high of $96.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.87 and a current ratio of 3.71. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.35. The firm has a market cap of $41.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.13.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 24.55% and a return on equity of 22.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.77, for a total value of $333,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $3,133,916.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 29,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,051,843.35. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.77, for a total transaction of $333,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,133,916.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,250 shares of company stock valued at $751,688 in the last ninety days. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EW. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.4% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 330,711 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,603,000 after acquiring an additional 14,087 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 151.2% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 20,123 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,923,000 after purchasing an additional 12,112 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 175.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 38,090 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,640,000 after buying an additional 24,242 shares in the last quarter. Cim LLC acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $13,724,000. Finally, GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth approximately $945,000. 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.