Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Shares Acquired by M&G Plc

M&G Plc increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,315 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the quarter. M&G Plc’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 6.3% during the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,704 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $792,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. First Community Trust NA acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Cooper Financial Group increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 50.4% during the second quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 6,382 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $590,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the second quarter worth approximately $265,000. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 9.1% during the second quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 8,493 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $784,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 1.2 %

EW stock opened at $66.35 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.87, a current ratio of 3.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $58.93 and a fifty-two week high of $96.12. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.06. The stock has a market cap of $39.98 billion, a PE ratio of 28.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.11.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 24.55% and a return on equity of 22.35%. Edwards Lifesciences’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.71 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on EW shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $103.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $99.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.10.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.54, for a total transaction of $437,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,108,777.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.54, for a total transaction of $437,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,108,777.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 8,617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.68, for a total transaction of $755,538.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 68,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,981,354.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,242 shares of company stock worth $2,168,470 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences 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.