Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW – Get Free Report) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after StockNews.com downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a hold rating. The stock had previously closed at $86.95, but opened at $64.01. Edwards Lifesciences shares last traded at $67.56, with a volume of 7,516,253 shares traded.
Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $101.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $91.00 to $76.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $103.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup upped their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.57.
Insider Activity
In related news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.80, for a total transaction of $622,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,636,549.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 5,625 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.45, for a total value of $508,781.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,764,242.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,250 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.80, for a total value of $622,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,636,549.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 81,099 shares of company stock valued at $7,003,553. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Trading of Edwards Lifesciences
Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter valued at about $648,540,000. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in 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 last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 57.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,516,260 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $622,695,000 after buying an additional 2,390,137 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 197.0% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,813,089,000 after buying an additional 1,644,869 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.
Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance
The company has a current ratio of 3.75, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50 day moving average is $88.51 and its 200 day moving average is $86.93.
Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 23.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.
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.