Van ECK Associates Corp Decreases Position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Van ECK Associates Corp decreased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 117,753 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 24,329 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $10,877,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EW. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth about $648,540,000. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 18,181,420 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,386,333,000 after acquiring an additional 3,048,274 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 57.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,516,260 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $622,695,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390,137 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 197.0% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,446,758 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $262,815,000 after acquiring an additional 2,286,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 9.5% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 18,973,304 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,813,089,000 after buying an additional 1,644,869 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on EW shares. Barclays cut their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $100.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Daiwa America upgraded Edwards Lifesciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.54, for a total transaction of $437,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,108,777.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $87,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 29,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,051,843.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.54, for a total value of $437,700.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,108,777.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,321,988. 1.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EW opened at $69.96 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $77.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.87 and a current ratio of 3.71. The firm has a market cap of $42.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.16, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.11. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1 year low of $58.93 and a 1 year high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 22.35% and a net margin of 24.55%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal 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.