Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 3,444 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lessened its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 41,966 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,444 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $2,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of EW. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $622,695,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390,137 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the first quarter worth about $124,511,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 4.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,782,909 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,827,347,000 after purchasing an additional 809,605 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 17.8% in the third quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 3,273,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $216,013,000 after purchasing an additional 494,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 422.3% in the third quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund now owns 450,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $29,711,000 after purchasing an additional 364,030 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

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

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Up 2.4 %

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

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.67. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $85.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $107.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.67.

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.