Vanguard Group Inc. Raises Stock Position in Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Corporation by 0.1% during the first quarter, owning approximately 11.77% of the company, valued at over $5 billion.
• In recent insider transactions, VP Daveen Chopra and VP Daniel J. Lippis sold a combined total of 5,614 shares of the company's stock, indicating a decrease in their holdings by 4.29% and 15.75%, respectively.
• Edwards Lifesciences reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.67, exceeding expectations, with year-over-year revenue growth of 11.9% to $1.53 billion.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 0.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 69,198,828 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 66,792 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 11.77% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $5,015,531,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 34.3% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,086,033 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $731,036,000 after buying an additional 2,576,383 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 8,155,355 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $603,741,000 after buying an additional 575,699 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,903,202 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $511,044,000 after buying an additional 652,923 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,519,257 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $482,621,000 after buying an additional 513,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,505,227 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $481,582,000 after buying an additional 1,165,845 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company's stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of EW stock traded up $0.44 on Friday, hitting $78.37. 2,877,353 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,184,443. The firm has a market cap of $46.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.28, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.08. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation has a 52 week low of $62.88 and a 52 week high of $83.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 4.68 and a quick ratio of 3.66.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 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 the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 72.96% and a return on equity of 15.01%. The company's revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Corporation will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $85.90.

Insider Activity

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 2,570 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.40, for a total value of $198,918.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 50,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,897,554.40. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 4,114 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.46, for a total transaction of $326,898.44. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,002 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,748,278.92. This represents a 15.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,134 shares of company stock valued at $1,311,745 over the last 90 days. Company 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.