New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Stock Position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,037,352 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 62,127 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.17% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $79,098,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Operose Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 247.0% in the 3rd quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 635 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 292.6% during the 3rd quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 636 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 3rd quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $66,000. 79.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.89, for a total value of $688,426.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,809,931.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.89, for a total value of $688,426.95. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,074 shares in the company, valued at $1,809,931.86. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Heisz Leslie Stone sold 7,056 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.45, for a total value of $609,991.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,980 shares in the company, valued at $2,332,421. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 194,004 shares of company stock worth $17,166,254. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE EW traded up $0.87 on Wednesday, hitting $88.62. 3,234,911 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,823,988. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $90.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.62. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $60.57 and a fifty-two week high of $96.12. The firm has a market cap of $53.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.14, a P/E/G ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 3.38 and a quick ratio of 2.40.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.64. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 23.56% and a net margin of 23.35%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. Edwards Lifesciences's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Bank of America upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, OTR Global raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "mixed" rating to a "positive" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $91.73.

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.