Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 7,649 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Welch & Forbes LLC lowered its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 257,429 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 7,649 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $19,629,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Martin Capital Advisors LLP lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Martin Capital Advisors LLP now owns 25,490 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,944,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 16,958 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,293,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. DMC Group LLC raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 3,561 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. now owns 3,832 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stableford Capital II LLC increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC now owns 5,980 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of EW traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $85.09. 2,438,926 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,757,333. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 3.75. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 52 week low of $60.57 and a 52 week high of $96.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.28 billion, a PE ratio of 36.68, a PEG ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.58.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 23.01% and a return on equity of 22.86%. On average, analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.59, for a total transaction of $620,955.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,074 shares in the company, valued at $1,632,543.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.59, for a total value of $620,955.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,074 shares in the company, valued at $1,632,543.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael A. Mussallem sold 29,350 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.67, for a total value of $2,543,764.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $388,801.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 237,749 shares of company stock worth $20,920,934 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Bank of America raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.71.

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.