Edwards Lifesciences Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:EW)

Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 18,389 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 127% compared to the typical daily volume of 8,107 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen lowered shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays lowered their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Wolfe Research upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $103.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $102.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.10.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of EW stock opened at $70.12 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $42.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.22, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.11. Edwards Lifesciences has a 1 year low of $58.93 and a 1 year high of $96.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $77.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.02.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. The business 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%. Edwards Lifesciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of Edwards Lifesciences 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 directly owns 29,333 shares in the company, valued at $2,051,843.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.29, for a total transaction of $466,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,378,659.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 29,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,051,843.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 16,250 shares of company stock worth $1,321,988. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EW. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. City State Bank increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. raised its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 8,548 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $817,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 771 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 2,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. 79.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Company 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.