Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 59,302 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 58.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,539 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 59,302 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $3,244,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST raised its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 440.0% in the 3rd quarter. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST now owns 3,510,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $243,173,000 after purchasing an additional 2,860,000 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter valued at about $168,519,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1,224.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,610,412 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $123,261,000 after purchasing an additional 1,488,791 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,434,401 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,138,575,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390,427 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 61.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,111,385 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $215,557,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179,637 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. OTR Global upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “mixed” rating to a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.73.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 1.0 %

EW stock opened at $88.62 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $90.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.69. The company has a market capitalization of $53.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 3.38 and a quick ratio of 2.40. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12 month low of $60.57 and a 12 month high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.64. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 23.35% and a return on equity of 23.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.89, for a total value of $688,426.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,809,931.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Catherine M. Szyman sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.62, for a total value of $2,311,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 34,814 shares in the company, valued at $2,980,774.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.89, for a total transaction of $688,426.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 19,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,809,931.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 194,004 shares of company stock worth $17,166,254 in the last three months. Company 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.