Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Trading Down 3.7% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) dropped 3.7% during trading on Friday after Evercore ISI lowered their price target on the stock from $92.00 to $89.00. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the stock. Edwards Lifesciences traded as low as $84.76 and last traded at $84.76. Approximately 842,369 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 3,789,601 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.01.

Several other research firms have also commented on EW. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Bank of America upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, OTR Global raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “mixed” rating to a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total transaction of $567,993.95. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 19,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,506,925.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total value of $567,993.95. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 19,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,506,925.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.83, for a total transaction of $944,130.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 39,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,390,542.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 194,004 shares of company stock valued at $17,166,254 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Martin Capital Advisors LLP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,944,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 8,548 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $817,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 771 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 6.0% during the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 2,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Down 1.8 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $52.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 3.38. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $90.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.76.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 23.56% and a net margin of 23.35%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.