Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Shares Bought by United Asset Strategies Inc.

United Asset Strategies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 168,159 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,242 shares during the quarter. Edwards Lifesciences makes up 1.1% of United Asset Strategies Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $12,449,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EW. Bowman & Co S.C. increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Bowman & Co S.C. now owns 12,487 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $924,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 31.1% during the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 700 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Seascape Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% during the third quarter. Seascape Capital Management now owns 32,989 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,177,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group raised its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 6,466 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $479,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Martin Capital Advisors LLP lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.7% during the third quarter. Martin Capital Advisors LLP now owns 25,546 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,686,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EW. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.48.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total value of $1,647,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 198,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. This represents a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.76, for a total transaction of $34,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 23,189 shares in the company, valued at $1,594,475.64. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,000 shares of company stock worth $2,195,180 over the last ninety days. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

EW stock opened at $68.98 on Monday. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1 year low of $58.93 and a 1 year high of $96.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95, a PEG ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.11. 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’s fifty day moving average is $72.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.52.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.67. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

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.