Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Given Outperform Rating at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has a $90.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on EW. Baird R W cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a buy rating to a neutral rating and cut their price objective for the company from $105.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird downgraded Edwards Lifesciences from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $80.29.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 0.6 %

EW stock opened at $68.52 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 3.71 and a quick ratio of 2.87. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.45. Edwards Lifesciences has a 12 month low of $58.93 and a 12 month high of $96.12. The company has a market capitalization of $41.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.13.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 22.35% and a net margin of 24.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total value of $330,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,530.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $87,437.50. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 29,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,051,843.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total value of $330,400.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,530.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 16,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,218,138. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% in the second quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 23,484 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,169,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. City State Bank grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 16.5% in the 2nd quarter. City State Bank now owns 917 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.7% during the first quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 8,548 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $817,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 771 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 6.0% in the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 2,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

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.