World Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 1,660.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 72,277 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 68,172 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $4,770,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EW. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 86.3% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,532,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,080,845,000 after purchasing an additional 14,610,123 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,265,633 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,733,270,000 after buying an additional 256,538 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,782,909 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,827,347,000 after acquiring an additional 809,605 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,521,147 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $889,050,000 after acquiring an additional 284,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,078,311 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $599,078,000 after acquiring an additional 806,705 shares during the period. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

EW opened at $73.97 on Friday. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1 year low of $58.93 and a 1 year high of $96.12. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.63 billion, a PE ratio of 10.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 70.82% and a return on equity of 20.76%. Edwards Lifesciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.57, for a total transaction of $327,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,077,593.52. This represents a 9.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 198,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. This represents a 11.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 35,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,323,150. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on EW. UBS Group decreased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Daiwa America downgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.65.

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.