Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Lifted to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Thursday.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Barclays upped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Edwards Lifesciences from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $86.00 to $103.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $95.06.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 1.0 %

Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $92.37 on Thursday. Edwards Lifesciences has a twelve month low of $60.57 and a twelve month high of $96.12. The business has a fifty day moving average of $87.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.37. 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 firm has a market cap of $55.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Michael A. Mussallem sold 29,350 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.42, for a total transaction of $2,712,527.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $414,596.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, VP Jean-Luc M. Lemercier sold 14,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.32, for a total transaction of $1,329,408.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 173,849 shares in the company, valued at $16,049,739.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael A. Mussallem sold 29,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.42, for a total transaction of $2,712,527.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $414,596.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 119,849 shares of company stock valued at $10,579,038 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Edwards Lifesciences

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,964,394 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,061,277,000 after buying an additional 600,994 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 9.5% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 18,973,304 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,813,089,000 after buying an additional 1,644,869 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 18,181,420 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,386,333,000 after purchasing an additional 3,048,274 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,827,510 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,283,098,000 after purchasing an additional 393,109 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $648,540,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.