Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on EW. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $86.00 to $103.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $107.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, OTR Global raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “mixed” rating to a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.06.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Edwards Lifesciences stock traded up $1.78 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $93.34. 3,309,466 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,406,438. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day moving average of $87.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.00. Edwards Lifesciences has a 12 month low of $60.57 and a 12 month high of $96.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 3.75 and a quick ratio of 2.67.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 23.01% and a return on equity of 22.86%. As a group, research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Jean-Luc M. Lemercier sold 14,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.21, for a total transaction of $1,212,624.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 173,849 shares in the company, valued at $14,639,824.29. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, Director Michael A. Mussallem sold 29,350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.42, for a total transaction of $2,712,527.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,486 shares in the company, valued at $414,596.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Jean-Luc M. Lemercier sold 14,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.21, for a total transaction of $1,212,624.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 173,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,639,824.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 127,104 shares of company stock worth $11,267,464. 1.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Martin Capital Advisors LLP lifted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Martin Capital Advisors LLP now owns 25,490 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,944,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 16,958 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,293,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 8,548 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $817,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 771 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 2,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.46% 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.