Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Downgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $72.00 price objective on the medical research company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $105.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on EW. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a buy rating and a $107.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $82.10.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Up 4.5 %

Shares of EW stock opened at $62.37 on Thursday. Edwards Lifesciences has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $96.12. The company has a market capitalization of $37.58 billion, a PE ratio of 26.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $87.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.92. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 3.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

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

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.29, for a total transaction of $466,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly 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 the SEC website. In other news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 8,617 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.68, for a total transaction of $755,538.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,981,354.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $466,450.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $4,378,659.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 81,099 shares of company stock valued at $7,003,553. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,964,394 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,061,277,000 after purchasing an additional 600,994 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 4.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,782,909 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,827,347,000 after acquiring an additional 809,605 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 3,048,274 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.4% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 393,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $648,540,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.