Brown Advisory Inc. Grows Stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,155,355 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 575,699 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. owned approximately 1.38% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $603,741,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of EW. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 11,135 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $824,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,057,013 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $301,355,000 after buying an additional 1,043,484 shares during the period. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST lifted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST now owns 4,800,000 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $355,344,000 after acquiring an additional 300,000 shares during the period. Sivik Global Healthcare LLC purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at $3,702,000. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter worth about $4,845,000. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company's stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EW traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $74.94. 2,378,625 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,019,167. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a one year low of $58.93 and a one year high of $95.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $71.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.41.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.48, for a total transaction of $27,792.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,414.24. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 6,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.75, for a total transaction of $492,375.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,555,402. The trade was a 12.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 77,833 shares of company stock worth $5,611,023 in the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $79.45.

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.