Rathbones Group PLC Purchases 15,192 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Rathbones Group PLC lifted its position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,299,171 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,192 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC owned 0.22% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $96,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EW. Norges Bank bought a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $610,895,000. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at $555,939,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 6,537,494 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 475.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,243,976 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $314,182,000 after purchasing an additional 3,506,886 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,844,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.87, for a total value of $797,287.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total value of $438,574.38. Following the sale, the director now owns 60,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,613,628.24. This trade represents a 8.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 62,553 shares of company stock worth $4,513,064. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on EW. Bank of America raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised 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, Wolfe Research cut Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EW opened at $69.39 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $40.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $71.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.66. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $58.93 and a fifty-two week high of $95.25. 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.