Versant Capital Management Inc Raises Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 206.3% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 484 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 326 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $45,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 4.4% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 330,711 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,603,000 after buying an additional 14,087 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 151.2% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 20,123 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,923,000 after purchasing an additional 12,112 shares during the period. Telos Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 158.2% in the 4th quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. now owns 91,405 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,970,000 after purchasing an additional 56,000 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 175.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 38,090 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,640,000 after purchasing an additional 24,242 shares during the period. Finally, HealthInvest Partners AB acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter worth about $1,587,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on EW shares. Daiwa America raised Edwards Lifesciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wolfe Research raised Edwards Lifesciences from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Barclays reduced their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $107.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 8,617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.68, for a total transaction of $755,538.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,218 shares in the company, valued at $5,981,354.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 8,617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.68, for a total transaction of $755,538.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,218 shares in the company, valued at $5,981,354.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 5,625 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.45, for a total value of $508,781.25. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 30,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,764,242.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,242 shares of company stock worth $2,607,520. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Up 2.0 %

Edwards Lifesciences stock traded up $1.23 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $61.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,925,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,975,926. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.31 billion, a PE ratio of 27.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.11. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1 year low of $58.93 and a 1 year high of $96.12. The company has a current ratio of 3.71, a quick ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $84.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.49.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 22.35% and a net margin of 24.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.71 EPS for the current 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.