Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Sells 457 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lowered its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,571 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 457 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $1,721,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of EW. Martin Capital Advisors LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Martin Capital Advisors LLP now owns 25,490 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,944,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC raised its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 16,958 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,293,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. DMC Group LLC lifted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 3,561 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.2% during the third quarter. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. now owns 3,832 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $265,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Stableford Capital II LLC grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC now owns 5,980 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $449,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Down 0.6 %

EW traded down $0.53 on Wednesday, hitting $85.31. The company had a trading volume of 427,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,698,005. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12-month low of $60.57 and a 12-month high of $96.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 3.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $90.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.69. The company has a market cap of $51.41 billion, a PE ratio of 37.00, a PEG ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 1.10.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 23.01%. Equities research analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, Director Heisz Leslie Stone sold 7,056 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.45, for a total value of $609,991.20. Following the sale, the director now owns 26,980 shares in the company, valued at $2,332,421. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian purchased 580 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $85.74 per share, with a total value of $49,729.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $280,198.32. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Heisz Leslie Stone sold 7,056 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.45, for a total value of $609,991.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,980 shares in the company, valued at $2,332,421. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 237,749 shares of company stock valued at $20,920,934. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on EW shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.27.

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.