Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Stock Price Down 3.7% After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) were down 3.7% on Friday after Evercore ISI lowered their price target on the stock from $92.00 to $89.00. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the stock. Edwards Lifesciences traded as low as $84.76 and last traded at $84.76. Approximately 842,369 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 3,789,601 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.01.

EW has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. OTR Global upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “mixed” rating to a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Catherine M. Szyman sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.62, for a total value of $2,311,740.00. Following the transaction, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Catherine M. Szyman sold 27,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now owns 34,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,980,774.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the business’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 transaction of $567,993.95. Following the transaction, 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 have sold a total of 194,004 shares of company stock valued at $17,166,254 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,363,400 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,992,709,000 after purchasing an additional 729,984 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 9.5% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 18,973,304 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,813,089,000 after buying an additional 1,644,869 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 18,181,420 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,386,333,000 after buying an additional 3,048,274 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,827,510 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,283,098,000 after buying an additional 393,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $648,540,000. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 1.8 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 3.38. The company has a market capitalization of $52.02 billion, a PE ratio of 37.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average is $90.28 and its 200-day moving average is $78.85.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 23.56% and a net margin of 23.35%. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.