Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Stock Price

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) had its target price increased by Barclays from $88.00 to $90.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the medical research company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:EW opened at $75.96 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $44.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $72.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.89. Edwards Lifesciences has a 1-year low of $58.93 and a 1-year high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 70.82% and a return on equity of 20.76%. Sell-side analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.76, for a total value of $852,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,315,301.36. The trade was a 26.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.75, for a total value of $492,375.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,555,402. This represents a 12.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,750 shares of company stock worth $1,564,255. 1.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EW. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 80.1% in the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 762,740 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $56,466,000 after purchasing an additional 339,299 shares during the last quarter. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter worth $910,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 55.7% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,813,419 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $430,367,000 after buying an additional 2,079,642 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 104,650 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,747,000 after buying an additional 14,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Capital Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 64.8% during the 4th quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 24,859 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,840,000 after buying an additional 9,779 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

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.