Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Buys 1,463 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 16.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,463 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 86.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,532,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,080,845,000 after purchasing an additional 14,610,123 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at $555,939,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 475.8% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,243,976 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $314,182,000 after acquiring an additional 3,506,886 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 239.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,693,663 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $243,745,000 after acquiring an additional 2,606,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seilern Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter valued at about $109,490,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE EW opened at $76.23 on Friday. 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 $72.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.41. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1 year low of $58.93 and a 1 year high of $96.12. The firm has a market cap of $44.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.00, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 1.10.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 70.82% and a return on equity of 20.76%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total transaction of $438,574.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 60,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,613,628.24. This represents a 8.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 500 shares of Edwards Lifesciences 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 directly owns 23,189 shares in the company, valued at $1,594,475.64. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 26,489 shares of company stock valued at $2,002,829. 1.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on EW. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Daiwa America downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.95.

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.