First Foundation Advisors Sells 626 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

First Foundation Advisors cut its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 40,301 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 626 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $2,983,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,132,036 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,117,845,000 after acquiring an additional 6,537,494 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 33,210,879 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,458,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678,154 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,647,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,007,520,000 after purchasing an additional 126,194 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,775,276 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $723,664,000 after buying an additional 696,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter worth about $610,895,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.87, for a total value of $797,287.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,153,526.69. This trade represents a 27.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 9,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.96, for a total value of $645,620.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,189,770.56. The trade was a 16.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 62,853 shares of company stock valued at $4,534,247. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $82.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EW opened at $68.61 on Thursday. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 52 week low of $58.93 and a 52 week high of $95.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.66. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 72.93% and a return on equity of 19.40%. On average, equities analysts predict 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.