Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) is WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST’s 10th Largest Position

WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,800,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 300,000 shares during the quarter. Edwards Lifesciences makes up approximately 4.3% of WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $355,344,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Purus Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 5.2% in the second quarter. Purus Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,212 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 31.1% in the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 700 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Seascape Capital Management raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% in the third quarter. Seascape Capital Management now owns 32,989 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,177,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.2% in the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 15,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Martin Capital Advisors LLP raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.7% in 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 in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.08, for a total value of $185,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 23,189 shares in the company, valued at $1,717,841.12. This trade represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total value of $1,647,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 198,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. The trade was a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,500 shares of company stock worth $2,508,350 in the last quarter. 1.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $72.16 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $71.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.92. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a twelve month low of $58.93 and a twelve month high of $96.12. The stock has a market cap of $42.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.11.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 70.82% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.