Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Buys 14,768 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 88,748 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,768 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $8,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EW. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 151.2% in 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 during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 175.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 38,090 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,640,000 after acquiring an additional 24,242 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 95.1% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,323,611 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $100,925,000 after acquiring an additional 645,204 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 558,031 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $42,550,000 after acquiring an additional 54,595 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on EW shares. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $100.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $103.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Fifteen research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.81.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EW opened at $68.25 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.87, a current ratio of 3.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.11 billion, a PE ratio of 29.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $73.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $83.72. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a twelve month low of $58.93 and a twelve month high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

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

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.