State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Purchases 18,998 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 2.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 689,009 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 18,998 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System owned approximately 0.11% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $65,842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Burkett Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.29, for a total transaction of $466,450.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,378,659.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian bought 580 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $85.74 per share, for a total transaction of $49,729.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $280,198.32. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.29, for a total value of $466,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,378,659.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 81,099 shares of company stock valued at $7,003,553. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of EW stock traded down $2.07 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $85.24. The stock had a trading volume of 1,664,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,397,305. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.37 billion, a PE ratio of 37.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.68. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a twelve month low of $60.57 and a twelve month high of $96.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 3.75 and a quick ratio of 2.67.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 23.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on EW shares. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $86.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, OTR Global raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “mixed” rating to a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.76.

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.