Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Decreases Position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. reduced its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,603,303 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 32,609 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned 0.26% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $122,252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EW. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1,224.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,610,412 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $123,261,000 after purchasing an additional 1,488,791 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 5,092.4% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 12,306 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $938,000 after buying an additional 12,069 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 83.3% in the 3rd quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 4,496 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 2,043 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 253,337 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $19,317,000 after acquiring an additional 27,519 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 850,257 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $58,906,000 after acquiring an additional 5,409 shares during the period. 79.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on EW shares. OTR Global upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “mixed” rating to a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Bank of America raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total value of $567,993.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 19,248 shares in the company, valued at $1,506,925.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total transaction of $567,993.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 19,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,506,925.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.83, for a total value of $944,130.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 39,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,390,542.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 194,004 shares of company stock valued at $17,166,254 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

EW opened at $89.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.69 billion, a PE ratio of 38.78, a P/E/G ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.92. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1 year low of $60.57 and a 1 year high of $96.12. 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 (NYSE:EW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 23.56% and a net margin of 23.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Edwards Lifesciences 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.