Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Given New $80.00 Price Target at Royal Bank of Canada

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) had its price target lifted by Royal Bank of Canada from $75.00 to $80.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price indicates a potential upside of 10.79% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on EW. Daiwa America cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.90.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

EW traded up $0.66 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $72.21. 1,032,098 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,633,529. The company has a market cap of $42.59 billion, a PE ratio of 10.42, a P/E/G ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.37. Edwards Lifesciences has a 1 year low of $58.93 and a 1 year high of $96.12. 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) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.67. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 70.82% and a return on equity of 20.76%. Edwards Lifesciences’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total value of $1,647,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 198,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,084,848.66. The trade was a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.77, for a total transaction of $333,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,133,916.72. The trade was a 9.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 40,000 shares of company stock worth $2,657,000. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 23,484 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,169,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. City State Bank grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 16.5% during the 2nd quarter. City State Bank now owns 917 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC now owns 6,104 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $533,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Purus Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Purus Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,212 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Busey Bank grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Busey Bank now owns 8,838 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

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.