Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 96,971 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 6,849 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $7,179,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of EW. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Versor Investments LP lifted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 102.5% during the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 4,455 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 2,255 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,069,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 3rd quarter worth about $481,000. Finally, Future Fund LLC increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 37.8% in the 3rd quarter. Future Fund LLC now owns 15,898 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 4,363 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EW has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.95.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 6,164 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total value of $428,459.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,083 shares in the company, valued at $4,106,859.33. This represents a 9.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 400 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.48, for a total value of $27,792.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,588 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,414.24. This trade represents a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 44,303 shares of company stock worth $3,255,356 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

NYSE EW opened at $68.49 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.83, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1-year low of $58.93 and a 1-year high of $96.12. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $72.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.35.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

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.