Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Rating Lowered to “Strong Sell” at Wolfe Research

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) was downgraded by research analysts at Wolfe Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also commented on EW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:EW opened at $75.96 on Wednesday. Edwards Lifesciences has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $96.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 1.10.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 70.82% and a return on equity of 20.76%. Equities research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.76, for a total transaction of $852,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,561 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,315,301.36. The trade was a 26.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.08, for a total transaction 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 have sold 20,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,564,255 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EW. Alpha Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $693,000. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 36.1% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 3,019 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $199,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 15,026 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $992,000 after buying an additional 1,437 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $273,000. Finally, Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $437,000. 79.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.