Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Shares Sold by Washington Trust Advisors Inc.

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 113,410 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,250 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $8,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 138.7% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 530 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Finally, Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter worth $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on EW shares. Wolfe Research lowered Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup increased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Bank of America raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 2.1 %

NYSE:EW opened at $72.89 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $42.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.10. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a one year low of $58.93 and a one year high of $96.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. Sell-side analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.78, for a total value of $796,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,387 shares in the company, valued at $2,150,791.86. The trade was a 27.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total value of $438,574.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 60,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,613,628.24. The trade was a 8.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 37,739 shares of company stock worth $2,799,104. 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.