Merit Financial Group LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 30.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,581 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,316 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EW. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 86.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,532,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,080,845,000 after purchasing an additional 14,610,123 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,265,633 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,733,270,000 after purchasing an additional 256,538 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,521,147 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $889,050,000 after buying an additional 284,918 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 9.8% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,078,311 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $599,078,000 after buying an additional 806,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,005,789 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $396,322,000 after buying an additional 61,275 shares during the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research downgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.48.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.08, for a total value of $185,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 23,189 shares in the company, valued at $1,717,841.12. This trade represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 directly owns 198,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. This represents a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 33,000 shares of company stock worth $2,195,180. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of EW opened at $68.95 on Friday. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1 year low of $58.93 and a 1 year high of $96.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 1.11. 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’s fifty day moving average is $72.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.86.

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

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.