Rafferty Asset Management LLC Buys 5,788 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 66,887 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,788 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $4,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth about $62,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Up 1.3%

EW stock opened at $77.92 on Monday. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1-year low of $58.93 and a 1-year high of $95.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.89. The company has a market capitalization of $45.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.18, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.79.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. The business 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 posted $0.66 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EW has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wolfe Research cut Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. 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 research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut Edwards Lifesciences from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $79.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 6,164 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $428,459.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,106,859.33. This represents a 9.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.40, for a total value of $837,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 41,098 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,057,691.20. This represents a 21.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,192 shares of company stock worth $4,709,454 in the last three months. 1.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Company 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.

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