Swiss National Bank Sells 86,800 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Swiss National Bank decreased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,701,800 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 86,800 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.29% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $125,984,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of EW. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 86.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 14,610,123 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth about $555,939,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 475.8% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,243,976 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $314,182,000 after buying an additional 3,506,886 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $213,844,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 239.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,693,663 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $243,745,000 after acquiring an additional 2,606,950 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.76, for a total transaction of $852,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,561 shares in the company, valued at $2,315,301.36. This trade represents a 26.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.48, for a total transaction of $27,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,569,414.24. This trade represents a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 53,803 shares of company stock valued at $3,900,976 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on EW shares. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price 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. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE EW opened at $67.92 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $71.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.32. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $58.93 and a fifty-two week high of $96.12. The company has a market cap of $39.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.74, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current 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.