Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Shares Sold by West Coast Financial LLC

West Coast Financial LLC cut its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 133,367 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 9,846 shares during the period. Edwards Lifesciences accounts for about 1.1% of West Coast Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. West Coast Financial LLC’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $9,873,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of EW. Purus Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Purus Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,212 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 31.1% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 700 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Seascape Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Seascape Capital Management now owns 32,989 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,177,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Cooper Financial Group increased its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 6,466 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $479,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 15,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. 79.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on EW shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Daiwa America cut Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.48.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total transaction of $1,647,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 198,526 shares in the company, valued at $13,084,848.66. This represents a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.08, for a total transaction of $185,200.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 23,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,717,841.12. This represents a 9.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 32,500 shares of company stock worth $2,160,800. 1.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 2.2 %

EW opened at $68.75 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.89. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12 month low of $58.93 and a 12 month high of $96.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.62.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.67. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 70.82% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.