Insider Buying: Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) CEO Buys 580 Shares of Stock

Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) CEO Bernard J. Zovighian bought 580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $85.74 per share, with a total value of $49,729.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $280,198.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE EW traded up $0.76 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $85.85. The stock had a trading volume of 1,836,259 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,735,495. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 3.75. The firm has a market cap of $51.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 1.10. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1 year low of $60.57 and a 1 year high of $96.12. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $90.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.69.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 23.01%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on EW. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.27.

Institutional Trading of Edwards Lifesciences

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NorthRock Partners LLC grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 5.4% in the first quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 13,847 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,323,000 after purchasing an additional 704 shares during the period. Choate Investment Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.4% during the first quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 153,698 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,687,000 after acquiring an additional 2,117 shares in the last quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 1st quarter worth about $214,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 162.7% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,465,719 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $140,064,000 after purchasing an additional 907,688 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonebrook Private Inc. increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 8,267 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $790,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.