GAMMA Investing LLC Buys New Shares in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,295 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,633,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,577,163,000 after purchasing an additional 325,808 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 9.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,434,401 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,138,575,000 after acquiring an additional 1,390,427 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 5.7% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 15,133,146 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,048,424,000 after acquiring an additional 818,849 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 3.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,357,473 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $440,446,000 after acquiring an additional 241,347 shares during the period. Finally, WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST now owns 4,100,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $312,625,000 after acquiring an additional 590,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $86.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 3.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a twelve month low of $60.57 and a twelve month high of $96.12. The stock has a market cap of $52.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.25, a P/E/G ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average is $90.28 and its 200 day moving average is $78.85.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 23.01% and a return on equity of 23.34%. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 1,715 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.98, for a total value of $156,030.70. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,566,038.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 1,715 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.98, for a total transaction of $156,030.70. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,566,038.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kieran Gallahue sold 3,058 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.61, for a total transaction of $267,911.38. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 67,219 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,889,056.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 194,004 shares of company stock valued at $17,166,254 over the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EW. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. OTR Global upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “mixed” rating to a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.33.

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.