Ninety One SA PTY Ltd Makes New Investment in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Ninety One SA PTY Ltd bought a new position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 8,993 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $686,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.3% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,556 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,127,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.0% during the first quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,487 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,033,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Geller Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 6.5% in the first quarter. Geller Advisors LLC now owns 1,965 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 16,958 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,293,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KCM Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.7% in the first quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,392 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $635,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Edwards Lifesciences stock traded down $0.73 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $86.51. 1,902,058 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,848,036. The business’s 50-day moving average is $90.12 and its 200-day moving average is $78.14. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12-month low of $60.57 and a 12-month high of $96.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.07 billion, a PE ratio of 37.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 3.38 and a quick ratio of 2.40.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 23.56% and a net margin of 23.35%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total value of $567,993.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,506,925.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Michael A. Mussallem sold 29,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.42, for a total value of $2,712,527.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $414,596.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total value of $567,993.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,506,925.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 194,004 shares of company stock valued at $17,166,254. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on EW shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.73.

Edwards Lifesciences 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.