Gotham Asset Management LLC Acquires 8,444 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 105.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,423 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,444 shares during the quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC's holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $1,216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on EW. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Edwards Lifesciences from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 9,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.96, for a total transaction of $645,620.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $3,189,770.56. The trade was a 16.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.48, for a total transaction of $27,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,414.24. This represents a 1.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,192 shares of company stock worth $4,709,454 over the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Edwards Lifesciences stock traded down $1.69 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $76.14. 4,412,954 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,115,376. The stock has a market cap of $44.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.92, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. The stock's fifty day moving average is $72.47 and its 200-day moving average is $71.90. The company has a quick ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12 month low of $58.93 and a 12 month high of $95.25.

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