Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Invests $130,000 in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,705 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Castleview Partners LLC bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 108.6% in the third quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 247.0% during the third quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 635 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on EW shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Mizuho raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.73.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:EW traded down $0.51 on Friday, hitting $85.94. 3,895,701 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,826,513. The company has a current ratio of 3.38, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1 year low of $60.57 and a 1 year high of $96.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $90.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.31. The company has a market cap of $51.73 billion, a PE ratio of 37.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, VP Catherine M. Szyman sold 27,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,980,774.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, VP Catherine M. Szyman sold 27,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,980,774.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total value of $567,993.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,506,925.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 194,004 shares of company stock valued at $17,166,254. 1.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.