Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Shares Acquired by United Asset Strategies Inc.

United Asset Strategies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 14.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,123 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,142 shares during the quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $696,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EW. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1,224.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,610,412 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $123,261,000 after buying an additional 1,488,791 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 5,092.4% in the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 12,306 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $938,000 after purchasing an additional 12,069 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 83.3% in the 3rd quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 4,496 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 2,043 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 253,337 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $19,317,000 after purchasing an additional 27,519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 850,257 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $58,906,000 after purchasing an additional 5,409 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

EW stock opened at $90.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $54.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.16, a PEG ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 1.05. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $60.57 and a fifty-two week high of $96.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 3.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $90.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.07.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 23.35% and a return on equity of 23.56%. The company’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on EW. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, OTR Global raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “mixed” rating to a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.73.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total transaction of $567,993.95. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,506,925.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total value of $567,993.95. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 19,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,506,925.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Catherine M. Szyman sold 27,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.62, for a total value of $2,311,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 34,814 shares in the company, valued at $2,980,774.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 194,004 shares of company stock worth $17,166,254 in the last 90 days. 1.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.