Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Trims Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 33,900 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $2,237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.4% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 330,711 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,603,000 after purchasing an additional 14,087 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 151.2% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 20,123 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,923,000 after buying an additional 12,112 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 175.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 38,090 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,640,000 after buying an additional 24,242 shares during the period. Financial Sense Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the first quarter worth $975,000. Finally, BDF Gestion acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the second quarter worth $5,148,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on EW. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 9th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.67.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $69.37 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.87 and a current ratio of 3.71. The company has a market capitalization of $41.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.90, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.13. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1 year low of $58.93 and a 1 year high of $96.12. The company’s fifty day moving average is $68.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.99.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 24.55% and a return on equity of 22.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $87,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 29,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,051,843.35. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.77, for a total transaction of $333,850.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,133,916.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $87,437.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 29,333 shares in the company, valued at $2,051,843.35. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 16,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,099,238. Company insiders own 1.29% 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.