KBC Group NV Reduces Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Corporation $EW

Key Points

• KBC Group trimmed its stake by 22.4% in Q4, selling 107,030 shares and now owning 371,758 Edwards Lifesciences shares worth about $31.7 million (0.06% of the company).
• Company insiders sold a total of 86,058 shares (~$7.12 million) in the past three months — including a 24,000‑share sale by VP Donald E. Bobo Jr. — leaving insiders with roughly 0.31% ownership.
• Edwards missed Q4 EPS expectations ($0.58 vs. $0.62) but revenue grew 13.3% to $1.57 billion; management set Q1 EPS guidance of $0.70–$0.76 and analysts have a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating with a $95.74 price target.

KBC Group NV trimmed its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 22.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 371,758 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 107,030 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned 0.06% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $31,692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,363,210 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $5,472,147,000 after purchasing an additional 365,581 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,804,416 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,617,959,000 after purchasing an additional 977,933 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,010,227 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,478,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,423,365 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,958,774 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,085,574,000 after purchasing an additional 2,287,783 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 7,908,572 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $615,050,000 after purchasing an additional 969,030 shares during the period. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 1,019 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.98, for a total value of $82,518.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 33,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,747,975.32. This represents a 2.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 24,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.84, for a total value of $2,012,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 21,266 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,782,941.44. The trade was a 53.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 86,058 shares of company stock worth $7,118,636. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EW opened at $78.90 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 3.09, a current ratio of 3.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $81.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $82.03. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation has a twelve month low of $68.63 and a twelve month high of $87.89.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The medical research company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by ($0.04). Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 14.50% and a net margin of 17.69%.The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. Edwards Lifesciences's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Edwards Lifesciences has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.700-0.760 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Corporation will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on EW shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $110.00 price objective on Edwards Lifesciences and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. TD Cowen upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $94.00 target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Truist Financial set a $89.00 target price on Edwards Lifesciences and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $95.74.

About Edwards Lifesciences

Edwards Lifesciences is a medical technology company focused on products and therapies for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring. The company designs, develops and manufactures prosthetic heart valves and related delivery systems used in both surgical and minimally invasive (transcatheter) procedures. Its portfolio addresses a range of valvular conditions, with an emphasis on technologies that enable transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) as an alternative to open-heart surgery.

In addition to transcatheter heart valves—including the widely recognized SAPIEN family—Edwards offers surgical tissue valves and ancillary devices used by cardiac surgeons, interventional cardiologists and hospital teams.

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