Bridgewater Associates LP Trims Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Bridgewater Associates LP reduced its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 68.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 165,451 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 354,361 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $10,918,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. First Community Trust NA acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 138.7% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 530 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Peoples Bank KS purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. 79.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 0.7 %

Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $72.07 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $68.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.32. The stock has a market cap of $42.51 billion, a PE ratio of 10.40, a P/E/G ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 1.12. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1-year low of $58.93 and a 1-year high of $96.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.89.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on EW shares. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. UBS Group cut their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.85.

Insider Activity 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 value of $1,647,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 198,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. This represents a 11.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $347,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly 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 valued at $2,657,000 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

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.