Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Trims Stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,345,238 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 19,997 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $124,260,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 6.1% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,554,851 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $143,621,000 after purchasing an additional 89,132 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 30.9% during the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 472,895 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $43,681,000 after acquiring an additional 111,605 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 14.8% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,618 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 594 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 29.8% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 13,295 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,228,000 after purchasing an additional 3,049 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 19.1% in the 2nd quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 13,797 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EW opened at $66.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $40.28 billion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.13. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $58.93 and a fifty-two week high of $96.12. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.86. The company has a quick ratio of 2.87, a current ratio of 3.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 24.55% and a return on equity of 22.35%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on EW shares. Wolfe Research raised Edwards Lifesciences from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Edwards Lifesciences from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $101.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.82.

Insider Activity

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.29, for a total transaction of $466,450.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,378,659.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $87,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 29,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,051,843.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.29, for a total value of $466,450.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,378,659.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,218,138. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

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.