Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Shares Sold by First Merchants Corp

First Merchants Corp lessened its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 85.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,445 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 60,491 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $773,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 86.3% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,532,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,080,845,000 after buying an additional 14,610,123 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,265,633 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,733,270,000 after purchasing an additional 256,538 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,521,147 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $889,050,000 after purchasing an additional 284,918 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,078,311 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $599,078,000 after purchasing an additional 806,705 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $555,939,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.76, for a total value of $852,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,315,301.36. The trade was a 26.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total transaction of $438,574.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 60,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,613,628.24. The trade was a 8.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,489 shares of company stock valued at $2,002,829. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE EW opened at $76.23 on Friday. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $96.12. The company has a market capitalization of $44.96 billion, a PE ratio of 11.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.89. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $72.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.41.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. Equities analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Edwards Lifesciences Company 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.