National Pension Service Trims Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

National Pension Service trimmed its position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 45.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 868,974 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 715,605 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.15% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $64,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 138.7% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 530 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Finally, Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.76, for a total transaction of $852,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,561 shares in the company, valued at $2,315,301.36. This trade represents a 26.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total value of $438,574.38. Following the transaction, the director now owns 60,372 shares in the company, valued at $4,613,628.24. This trade represents a 8.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 26,489 shares of company stock valued at $2,002,829. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on EW. Barclays increased 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $78.00 price target (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 0.7 %

EW stock opened at $71.42 on Friday. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a twelve month low of $58.93 and a twelve month high of $96.12. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization of $42.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.25, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.20.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 72.93% and a return on equity of 19.40%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share 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.