Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Downgraded by Wolfe Research to “Underperform”

Wolfe Research lowered shares of Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) from a peer perform rating to an underperform rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. Wolfe Research currently has $60.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on EW. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $70.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Friday, October 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.48.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:EW opened at $69.77 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.45. Edwards Lifesciences has a 52 week low of $58.93 and a 52 week high of $96.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46. The company has a market cap of $41.15 billion, a PE ratio of 10.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.11.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.76, for a total transaction of $34,380.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 23,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,594,475.64. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 198,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. This trade represents a 11.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 33,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,195,180. 1.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 86.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,532,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,080,845,000 after buying an additional 14,610,123 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 475.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,243,976 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $314,182,000 after acquiring an additional 3,506,886 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 239.9% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,693,663 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $243,745,000 after acquiring an additional 2,606,950 shares during the period. Seilern Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter valued at $109,490,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,057,013 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $301,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,484 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% 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.