Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Stock Rating Lowered by Wolfe Research

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wolfe Research from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $60.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock. Wolfe Research’s target price indicates a potential downside of 14.01% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI dropped 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 note on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.48.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $69.77 on Thursday. Edwards Lifesciences has a 12 month low of $58.93 and a 12 month high of $96.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market cap of $41.15 billion, a PE ratio of 10.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.60.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total transaction of $1,647,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 2,500 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.08, for a total value of $185,200.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 23,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,717,841.12. This trade represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,000 shares of company stock worth $2,195,180 in the last 90 days. 1.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bowman & Co S.C. raised its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Bowman & Co S.C. now owns 12,487 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $924,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 31.1% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 700 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Seascape Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Seascape Capital Management now owns 32,989 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,177,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 6,466 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $479,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 15,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.