Oak Asset Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Oak Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 13.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,199 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Oak Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $232,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of EW. Retireful LLC bought a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the first quarter worth $387,000. Orser Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 1st quarter worth about $2,101,000. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 93.4% during the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 10,793 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $782,000 after buying an additional 5,212 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 26.3% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 22,507 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,631,000 after buying an additional 4,682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,763 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $853,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EW has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price (up from $84.00) on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Dbs Bank upgraded Edwards Lifesciences to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.20.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 6,164 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $428,459.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,106,859.33. The trade was a 9.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.87, for a total transaction of $797,287.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,387 shares in the company, valued at $2,153,526.69. This trade represents a 27.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 59,012 shares of company stock worth $4,224,717. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Up 0.3%

Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $77.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46. The stock has a market cap of $45.73 billion, a PE ratio of 11.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $73.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.64. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a one year low of $58.93 and a one year high of $95.25.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 72.93% and a return on equity of 19.40%. Edwards Lifesciences’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.