Alliancebernstein L.P. Reduces Stock Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Alliancebernstein L.P. reduced its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 70.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,038,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 4,944,582 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.35% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $150,923,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AIA Group Ltd increased its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 930,933 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $68,917,000 after buying an additional 181,409 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 5.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,678,154 shares during the period. Partners in Financial Planning bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter worth approximately $858,000. Schroder Investment Management Group bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,176,000. Finally, Allianz SE purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $339,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $78.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of EW stock opened at $71.77 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $95.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $71.59 and its 200 day moving average is $70.59.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. Research analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total transaction of $438,574.38. Following the transaction, the director now owns 60,372 shares in the company, valued at $4,613,628.24. This trade represents a 8.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.76, for a total value of $852,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,315,301.36. This trade represents a 26.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 62,553 shares of company stock worth $4,513,064 in the last three months. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Company 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.