Edwards Lifesciences’ (EW) Equal Weight Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $70.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 2.74% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Edwards Lifesciences from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Thursday, September 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $107.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Seventeen investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.77.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of EW stock opened at $68.13 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $67.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.08. The firm has a market cap of $41.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.13. Edwards Lifesciences 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.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 22.35% and a net margin of 24.55%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 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 $2,051,843.35. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total value of $330,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $3,101,530.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,250 shares of company stock valued at $751,688. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EW. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 57.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,516,260 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $622,695,000 after buying an additional 2,390,137 shares in the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 100,739.7% in the 1st quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 1,406,714 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $134,092,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405,319 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 1st quarter worth approximately $124,511,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 162.7% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,465,719 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $140,064,000 after purchasing an additional 907,688 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,782,909 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,827,347,000 after purchasing an additional 809,605 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

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.