Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Shares Bought by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,788,600 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,300 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $118,030,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EW. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in 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. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the first quarter valued at approximately $124,511,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 4.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,782,909 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,827,347,000 after buying an additional 809,605 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 17.8% during the third quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 3,273,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $216,013,000 after purchasing an additional 494,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 422.3% during the third quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund now owns 450,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $29,711,000 after purchasing an additional 364,030 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total transaction of $1,647,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 198,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. This represents a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total value of $347,550.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $3,262,521.36. The trade was a 9.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock worth $2,657,000 over the last quarter. 1.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $103.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group cut their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Daiwa America cut Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Friday, October 11th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.67.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Up 3.1 %

NYSE:EW opened at $69.89 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.02. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a one year low of $58.93 and a one year high of $96.12. The stock has a market cap of $41.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.67. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. Edwards Lifesciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.57 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.