Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Trims Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans decreased its position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,257,962 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 87,276 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $83,013,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.3% in 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 period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 57.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,516,260 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $622,695,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390,137 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 3,273,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $216,013,000 after buying an additional 494,604 shares during the period. Ownership Capital B.V. increased its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.2% during the third quarter. Ownership Capital B.V. now owns 2,993,019 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $197,509,000 after acquiring an additional 34,597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,082,961 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $192,403,000 after purchasing an additional 43,247 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total transaction of $1,647,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 198,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,084,848.66. This represents a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.57, for a total value of $327,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,077,593.52. This represents a 9.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,250 shares of company stock valued at $2,744,438 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on EW. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $107.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.67.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 2.4 %

EW stock opened at $67.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.89. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $67.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.12. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12 month low of $58.93 and a 12 month high of $96.12. The company has a market cap of $39.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.67. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current 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.