Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) was the target of a large drop in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totaling 5,640,466 shares, a drop of 19.2% from the November 30th total of 6,980,005 shares. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,017,679 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,017,679 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE EW traded down $0.94 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $85.26. The stock had a trading volume of 1,559,273 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,817,365. The company has a current ratio of 4.00, a quick ratio of 3.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market cap of $49.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $84.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.83. Edwards Lifesciences has a 52-week low of $65.94 and a 52-week high of $87.89.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 23.25%.Edwards Lifesciences’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.67 EPS. Edwards Lifesciences has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.560-2.620 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.580-0.640 EPS. Analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 11,386 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.76, for a total transaction of $953,691.36. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 38,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,264,127.20. This represents a 22.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 1,019 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.03, for a total value of $85,626.57. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 22,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,848,828.06. This represents a 4.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 45,465 shares of company stock valued at $3,804,610 in the last quarter. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,363,210 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,472,147,000 after purchasing an additional 365,581 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,804,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,617,959,000 after buying an additional 977,933 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,010,227 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,478,425,000 after acquiring an additional 1,423,365 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,958,774 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,085,574,000 after acquiring an additional 2,287,783 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,722,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $990,074,000 after acquiring an additional 45,555 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EW has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $96.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $100.00 price objective on Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $98.00 price target on Edwards Lifesciences and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.95.

About Edwards Lifesciences

Edwards Lifesciences is a medical technology company focused on products and therapies for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring. The company designs, develops and manufactures prosthetic heart valves and related delivery systems used in both surgical and minimally invasive (transcatheter) procedures. Its portfolio addresses a range of valvular conditions, with an emphasis on technologies that enable transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) as an alternative to open-heart surgery.

In addition to transcatheter heart valves—including the widely recognized SAPIEN family—Edwards offers surgical tissue valves and ancillary devices used by cardiac surgeons, interventional cardiologists and hospital teams.