Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Reduces Stock Position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lessened its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 96.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 777 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 20,010 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $51,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Community Trust NA bought a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 138.7% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 530 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the second quarter worth $39,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EW. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.25.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $70.19 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $68.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.78. The firm has a market cap of $41.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.12. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12 month low of $58.93 and a 12 month high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 70.82% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.77, for a total transaction of $333,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,133,916.72. This represents a 9.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 198,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. The trade was a 11.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,657,000. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences 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.