Van Strum & Towne Inc. Acquires 326 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Van Strum & Towne Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 7,134 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 326 shares during the quarter. Van Strum & Towne Inc.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $528,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 11,135 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,057,013 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $301,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,484 shares during the period. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST now owns 4,800,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $355,344,000 after purchasing an additional 300,000 shares during the period. Sivik Global Healthcare LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,702,000. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,845,000. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

NYSE EW opened at $69.37 on Friday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $71.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.32. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1 year low of $58.93 and a 1 year high of $96.12. The company has a market cap of $40.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 6,164 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $428,459.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,106,859.33. This trade represents a 9.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.76, for a total value of $852,300.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,561 shares in the company, valued at $2,315,301.36. This represents a 26.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 53,803 shares of company stock valued at $3,900,976. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wolfe Research lowered Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.95.

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.