UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Buys 513,468 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,519,257 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 513,468 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned approximately 1.11% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $482,621,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,132,036 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $5,117,845,000 after buying an additional 6,537,494 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 33,210,879 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,458,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678,154 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,647,341 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,007,520,000 after purchasing an additional 126,194 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,775,276 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $723,664,000 after acquiring an additional 696,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter worth approximately $610,895,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.08, for a total value of $112,620.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 6,164 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $428,459.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,083 shares in the company, valued at $4,106,859.33. This represents a 9.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,692 shares of company stock valued at $4,822,074 in the last three months. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE EW traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $74.98. 3,738,140 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,138,901. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a one year low of $58.93 and a one year high of $95.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46. The company's 50-day moving average is $72.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.04. The company has a market capitalization of $43.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. The business's revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EW. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered Edwards Lifesciences from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $95.00 price objective (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Thursday. One research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $80.20.

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.