Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) was the target of a large drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,490,000 shares, a drop of 28.7% from the February 13th total of 11,900,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,740,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 2,500 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.08, for a total transaction of $185,200.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 23,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,717,841.12. This trade represents a 9.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 6,164 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $428,459.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,106,859.33. This represents a 9.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 53,803 shares of company stock valued at $3,900,976. 1.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth about $592,000. Probity Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth about $295,000. Cim LLC grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Cim LLC now owns 189,399 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,021,000 after purchasing an additional 2,337 shares during the period. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth about $92,631,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE EW traded up $1.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $69.37. 3,587,135 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,523,569. Edwards Lifesciences has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $96.12. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $71.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.33. The firm has a market cap of $40.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.95, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 72.93% and a return on equity of 19.40%. As a group, analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on EW shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.95.

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.