Townsend & Associates Inc Raises Stake in Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW)

Townsend & Associates Inc increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 18.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 214,799 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 34,048 shares during the quarter. Edwards Lifesciences makes up 1.5% of Townsend & Associates Inc's holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Townsend & Associates Inc's holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $14,864,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in EW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,132,036 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $5,117,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,537,494 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 33,210,879 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,458,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678,154 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,647,341 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,007,520,000 after buying an additional 126,194 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $610,895,000. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 8,155,355 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $603,741,000 after buying an additional 575,699 shares during the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.40, for a total transaction of $198,918.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 50,356 shares in the company, valued at $3,897,554.40. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 8,950 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.23, for a total transaction of $673,308.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 206,900 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,565,087. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,648 shares of company stock valued at $2,998,866 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of EW traded down $1.00 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $77.21. The stock had a trading volume of 3,124,860 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,233,531. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $75.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.18. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $58.93 and a fifty-two week high of $95.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.03, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 3.66 and a current ratio of 4.45.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 75.48% and a return on equity of 16.62%. The business had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Corporation will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $95.00 price target (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $80.20.

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.