Raymond James Financial Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Corporation $EW

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. reduced its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Corporation by 24.5%, selling 706,653 shares and bringing its total ownership to 2,181,955 shares, valued at approximately $158 million.
• Several hedge funds increased their stakes in Edwards Lifesciences, with American Century Companies Inc. raising theirs by 9.3% and Ethic Inc. boosting it by 39.1% in the first quarter of 2023.
• Edwards Lifesciences reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.67, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.62, along with a revenue of $1.53 billion, an increase of 11.9% year-over-year.

Raymond James Financial Inc. cut its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 24.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,181,955 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 706,653 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.37% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $158,148,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EW. Vega Investment Solutions bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. SouthState Corp acquired a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the first quarter valued at $27,000. Rossby Financial LCC acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 116.1% during the first quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 402 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. 79.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

EW stock traded up $0.5950 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $81.7550. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,834,998 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,512,814. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 1.08. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation has a 12 month low of $64.00 and a 12 month high of $83.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $77.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.60. The company has a quick ratio of 3.87, a current ratio of 4.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.05. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 15.01% and a net margin of 72.96%.The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Edwards Lifesciences has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.540-0.60 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 2.400-2.500 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Corporation will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 2,570 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.40, for a total value of $198,918.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 50,356 shares in the company, valued at $3,897,554.40. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 4,114 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.46, for a total value of $326,898.44. Following the sale, the vice president owned 22,002 shares in the company, valued at $1,748,278.92. The trade was a 15.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,584 shares of company stock worth $1,897,762 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Argus upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $95.00 price target (up from $84.00) on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $85.90.

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.