Hancock Whitney Corp Trims Stock Position in Edwards Lifesciences Corporation $EW

Key Points

• Hancock Whitney Corp reduced its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Corporation by 58.5%, holding 8,450 shares valued at approximately $612,000.
• Edwards Lifesciences reported an EPS of $0.67 for its last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.62, with revenue of $1.53 billion.
• Analysts have issued a consensus rating of Moderate Buy for Edwards Lifesciences, with a target price averaging $85.90, following several upgrades from notable firms.

Hancock Whitney Corp cut its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 58.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,450 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 11,929 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp's holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $612,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 30,195 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,170,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 15,506 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,124,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 13.5% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 77,016 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $5,582,000 after buying an additional 9,188 shares during the last quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 185,571 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $13,450,000 after buying an additional 17,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 390.7% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 8,808 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $633,000 after acquiring an additional 7,013 shares during the period. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EW. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Argus raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $86.26.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 4,114 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.46, for a total value of $326,898.44. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,002 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,748,278.92. This represents a 15.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 8,950 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.06, for a total transaction of $698,637.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 206,900 shares in the company, valued at $16,150,614. This trade represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,014 shares of company stock worth $1,698,844 over the last three months. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EW traded down $1.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $76.58. 1,423,157 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,418,166. The company's 50-day moving average is $78.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 4.68 and a quick ratio of 3.87. The company has a market capitalization of $44.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.02, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.07. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation has a 1 year low of $64.00 and a 1 year high of $83.00.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.49 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 72.96% and a return on equity of 15.01%. The business's revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.70 EPS. Edwards Lifesciences has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.540-0.60 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 2.400-2.500 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Corporation will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.