Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Stake Boosted by Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 2.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 756,599 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 17,820 shares during the quarter. Edwards Lifesciences accounts for approximately 2.6% of Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $54,838,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,132,036 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,117,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,537,494 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 33,210,879 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,458,601,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678,154 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,647,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,007,520,000 after acquiring an additional 126,194 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,775,276 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $723,664,000 after purchasing an additional 696,965 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter worth about $610,895,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 0.5%

EW opened at $74.80 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $74.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.96. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a twelve month low of $58.93 and a twelve month high of $95.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46. The firm has a market cap of $43.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 9,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.81, for a total transaction of $663,195.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 47,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,295,450.86. The trade was a 16.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.87, for a total value of $797,287.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,153,526.69. This represents a 27.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,898 shares of company stock valued at $3,796,154 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price target (up previously from $84.00) on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Dbs Bank raised Edwards Lifesciences to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.20.

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.