Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 17,084 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Corporation by 36.2% during the first quarter, leaving them with shares valued at $2.18 million after selling 17,084 shares.
• Several institutional investors increased their stake in Edwards Lifesciences, with Jennison Associates boosting its holdings by 34.3%, bringing its total to approximately $731 million.
• Analysts generally remain positive, with most giving Edwards Lifesciences a Moderate Buy rating and a consensus target price around $85.71.

Pacer Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 36.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,084 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 17,084 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $2,180,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EW. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 10.7% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 10,707 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $776,000 after buying an additional 1,032 shares during the period. One Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 54.2% in the first quarter. One Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,304 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 6,431 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 18.8% in the first quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 90,502 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $6,560,000 after purchasing an additional 14,334 shares in the last quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 3.4% in the first quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co now owns 166,675 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $12,081,000 after purchasing an additional 5,454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 1,395,100 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $101,117,000 after acquiring an additional 143,841 shares during the period. 79.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Daiwa America raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $95.00 price objective (up from $84.00) on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $85.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 4,114 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,002 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,748,278.92. This trade represents a 15.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,500 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.08, for a total transaction of $112,620.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 33,496 shares in the company, valued at $2,514,879.68. This trade represents a 4.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,962 shares of company stock valued at $2,641,387 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company's stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE:EW traded down $0.01 on Friday, reaching $79.30. 3,152,852 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,898,219. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 4.45 and a quick ratio of 3.66. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation has a 52 week low of $59.41 and a 52 week high of $83.00. The firm has a market cap of $46.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 1.08.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.05. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 72.96% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. Edwards Lifesciences's revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Corporation will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

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.