Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Acquires 143,841 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 11.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,395,100 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 143,841 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned about 0.24% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $101,117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 6,537,494 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 34.3% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,086,033 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $731,036,000 after purchasing an additional 2,576,383 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $610,895,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on EW shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $81.00.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of EW stock traded down $1.23 on Thursday, hitting $75.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,413,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,464,965. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 3.66 and a current ratio of 4.45. The stock's 50 day moving average is $76.56 and its 200-day moving average is $73.51. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $58.93 and a fifty-two week high of $78.90. The company has a market capitalization of $44.39 billion, a PE ratio of 10.81, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Insider Activity

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.40, for a total transaction of $837,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 41,098 shares in the company, valued at $3,057,691.20. This represents a 21.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.40, for a total transaction of $198,918.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 50,356 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,897,554.40. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 30,848 shares of company stock valued at $2,314,488. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company's stock.

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.