Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases New Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 36,700 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,798,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EW. Castleview Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. acquired a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 108.6% in the 3rd quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 582 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total value of $567,993.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,506,925.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, VP Catherine M. Szyman sold 27,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.62, for a total transaction of $2,311,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 34,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,980,774.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total transaction of $567,993.95. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,506,925.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 194,004 shares of company stock valued at $17,166,254 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 1.2 %

Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $89.20 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 3.38. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $60.57 and a fifty-two week high of $96.12. The company has a market capitalization of $53.69 billion, a PE ratio of 38.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $90.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.92.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.64. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 23.35% and a return on equity of 23.56%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.