Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Shares Acquired by GoalVest Advisory LLC

GoalVest Advisory LLC grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 93.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,248 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 603 shares during the quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $90,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of EW. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $610,895,000. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $555,939,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,132,036 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,117,845,000 after acquiring an additional 6,537,494 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,844,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 55.7% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,813,419 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $430,367,000 after acquiring an additional 2,079,642 shares during the period. 79.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on EW shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays increased their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.20.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.87, for a total transaction of $797,287.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,153,526.69. This trade represents a 27.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 400 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.48, for a total value of $27,792.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,569,414.24. This represents a 1.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,442 shares of company stock worth $4,025,799 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of EW stock opened at $77.72 on Friday. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $58.93 and a fifty-two week high of $95.25. The stock has a market cap of $45.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.15, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.33. The company has a quick ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. The business had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share 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.