Diversified Trust Co Trims Stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Diversified Trust Co lessened its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 13.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,074 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,575 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $1,708,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EW. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the third quarter worth $30,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 138.7% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 530 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 31.1% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 700 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $82.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.40.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE:EW opened at $74.16 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $71.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.30. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1-year low of $58.93 and a 1-year high of $96.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.70, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.57, for a total transaction of $327,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $3,077,593.52. This trade represents a 9.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total transaction of $1,647,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 198,526 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders sold a total of 37,500 shares of company stock valued at $2,508,350 over the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.