D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Sells 6,398 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 976,818 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 6,398 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $72,314,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 11,135 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $824,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST raised its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST now owns 4,800,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $355,344,000 after acquiring an additional 300,000 shares in the last quarter. Sivik Global Healthcare LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,702,000. Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,845,000. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 134,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,945,000 after purchasing an additional 23,409 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.45.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

EW opened at $73.82 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.50. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 52-week low of $58.93 and a 52-week high of $95.25. The company has a market cap of $43.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.59, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. The business had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.48, for a total value of $27,792.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,588 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,414.24. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.40, for a total transaction of $837,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 41,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,057,691.20. This represents a 21.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 89,681 shares of company stock valued at $6,492,703. Corporate insiders own 1.29% 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.