Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Lowers Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd trimmed its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 78,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 49,382 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $5,210,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position 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 worth $2,169,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. City State Bank raised its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 16.5% in the second quarter. City State Bank now owns 917 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Chapin Davis Inc. raised its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.7% in the first quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 8,548 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $817,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position 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 worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC raised its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 4.1% in the first quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 3,840 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $367,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. 79.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $70.27 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.18. 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 0.08, a current ratio of 3.71 and a quick ratio of 2.87. The stock has a market cap of $42.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.13.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 24.55% and a return on equity of 22.35%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.71 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on EW shares. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.81.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total transaction of $330,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,101,530.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $87,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 29,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,051,843.35. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total transaction of $330,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,530.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 16,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,099,238 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.29% 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.