Woodline Partners LP Decreases Stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Woodline Partners LP reduced its position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 97.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,441 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 342,796 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP's holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $773,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 10.4% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 5.3% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,678,154 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 126,194 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,775,276 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $723,664,000 after purchasing an additional 696,965 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter worth $610,895,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on EW. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered Edwards Lifesciences from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wolfe Research lowered Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $80.20.

Insider Activity

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.87, for a total value of $797,287.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,387 shares in the company, valued at $2,153,526.69. This trade represents a 27.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.48, for a total transaction of $27,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 22,588 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,569,414.24. This trade represents a 1.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 56,442 shares of company stock worth $4,025,799. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EW traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $77.95. 3,560,574 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,162,093. The company has a market capitalization of $45.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.18, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. The company's 50-day moving average is $73.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.33. 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.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 72.93% and a return on equity of 19.40%. The firm had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.