Blue Trust Inc. Sells 263 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Blue Trust Inc. cut its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,786 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 263 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of EW. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 11,135 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $824,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,057,013 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $301,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,484 shares during the period. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST now owns 4,800,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $355,344,000 after purchasing an additional 300,000 shares during the period. Sivik Global Healthcare LLC purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth $3,702,000. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth $4,845,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total transaction of $438,574.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 60,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,613,628.24. The trade was a 8.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 6,500 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.75, for a total value of $492,375.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,555,402. This trade represents a 12.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,489 shares of company stock valued at $2,002,829 over the last quarter. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on EW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Daiwa America lowered Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EW opened at $76.23 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46. The company has a market cap of $44.96 billion, a PE ratio of 11.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.54. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $58.93 and a fifty-two week high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.