Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Stake Lessened by Chesley Taft & Associates LLC

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lessened its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,834 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 420 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $2,135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 11,135 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $824,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,057,013 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $301,355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043,484 shares in the last quarter. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST now owns 4,800,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $355,344,000 after acquiring an additional 300,000 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 9.2% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 478,418 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,571,000 after purchasing an additional 40,348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AIA Group Ltd boosted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 91.7% in the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 749,524 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $49,461,000 after purchasing an additional 358,556 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 0.1 %

EW opened at $69.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $41.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $72.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.03. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a twelve month low of $58.93 and a twelve month high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.67. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 500 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.76, for a total transaction of $34,380.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 23,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,594,475.64. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.57, for a total value of $327,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,077,593.52. This represents a 9.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 33,000 shares of company stock worth $2,195,180. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on EW. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Bank of America raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $82.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.48.

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.