Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 66,570 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,375 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $5,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of EW. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 11.4% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 941 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 1,738 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $204,000 after buying an additional 448 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,223 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $144,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 53.5% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,182 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $846,000 after acquiring an additional 2,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 3.1% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 655,567 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $77,173,000 after acquiring an additional 19,798 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on EW shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. OTR Global raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “mixed” rating to a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Michael A. Mussallem sold 29,350 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.67, for a total transaction of $2,543,764.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $388,801.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, VP Catherine M. Szyman sold 27,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.62, for a total transaction of $2,311,740.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 34,814 shares in the company, valued at $2,980,774.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael A. Mussallem sold 29,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.67, for a total transaction of $2,543,764.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $388,801.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 194,004 shares of company stock valued at $17,166,254 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:EW opened at $85.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.38, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $90.15 and a 200-day moving average of $78.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.73 billion, a PE ratio of 37.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 1.05. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 52 week low of $60.57 and a 52 week high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 23.56% and a net margin of 23.35%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. Analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.76 EPS for the current 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.