Bellevue Group AG Acquires 84,138 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Bellevue Group AG grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 8.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,103,136 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 84,138 shares during the period. Edwards Lifesciences makes up approximately 1.6% of Bellevue Group AG’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Bellevue Group AG’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $105,416,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in EW. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $648,540,000. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $1,386,333,000 after purchasing an additional 3,048,274 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 57.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,516,260 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $622,695,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390,137 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 197.0% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,446,758 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $262,815,000 after buying an additional 2,286,119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 9.5% in the 1st 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 last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.29, for a total transaction of $466,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,378,659.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.29, for a total transaction of $466,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $4,378,659.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 8,617 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.68, for a total transaction of $755,538.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,981,354.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 81,099 shares of company stock worth $7,003,553. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock traded up $2.67 on Friday, hitting $62.37. 14,111,391 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,310,790. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 52 week low of $58.93 and a 52 week high of $96.12. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 3.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 24.55% and a return on equity of 22.35%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. Edwards Lifesciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on EW shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $103.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $91.00 to $76.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird lowered Edwards Lifesciences from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.10.

Edwards Lifesciences Company 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.