Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Edwards Lifesciences has been upgraded from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting increasing analyst confidence in the company's stock.
• The average target price for Edwards Lifesciences is now $85.00, with a majority of analysts giving it a "Moderate Buy" consensus rating.
• The company reported strong quarterly earnings, with a 11.9% year-over-year revenue increase, surpassing consensus estimates by $0.05 per share.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on EW. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $85.00.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EW traded down $0.88 on Friday, reaching $79.12. 2,801,193 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,552,038. The company has a fifty day moving average of $76.58 and a 200-day moving average of $73.55. Edwards Lifesciences has a twelve month low of $59.41 and a twelve month high of $83.00. The company has a market capitalization of $46.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.38, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 4.45, a quick ratio of 3.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.49 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 72.96%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.40, for a total transaction of $837,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 41,098 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,057,691.20. This represents a 21.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.08, for a total value of $112,620.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 33,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,514,879.68. This represents a 4.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 30,848 shares of company stock valued at $2,314,488 over the last ninety days. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EW. Vega Investment Solutions purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. SouthState Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the first quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company's stock.

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.