Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Sells 222 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 222 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $525,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. First Community Trust NA acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 206.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 484 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the period. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $55,000. 79.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $66.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.67.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 2.4 %

Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $67.76 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $39.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 1.12. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1-year low of $58.93 and a 1-year high of $96.12. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.37. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 70.82% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $87,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 29,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,051,843.35. This trade represents a 4.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $347,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,262,521.36. This trade represents a 9.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,250 shares of company stock valued at $2,744,438. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

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.