Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 342.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 390,312 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 302,112 shares during the period. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. owned about 0.07% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $28,895,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at $54,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 6,164 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $428,459.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,083 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,106,859.33. This represents a 9.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total value of $438,574.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 60,372 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,613,628.24. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 71,931 shares of company stock valued at $5,148,028 in the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EW has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wolfe Research lowered Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" 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 price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price 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. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.60.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of EW opened at $77.04 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $45.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.05, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $71.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.62. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12 month low of $58.93 and a 12 month high of $95.25. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

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

Edwards Lifesciences 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.

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