Fisher Funds Management LTD Purchases Shares of 955,100 Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 955,100 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,701,000. Edwards Lifesciences comprises approximately 1.7% of Fisher Funds Management LTD’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 11,135 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,057,013 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $301,355,000 after buying an additional 1,043,484 shares during the period. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST increased its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST now owns 4,800,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $355,344,000 after acquiring an additional 300,000 shares in the last quarter. Sivik Global Healthcare LLC purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,702,000. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,845,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on EW shares. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Daiwa America lowered Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.95.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $75.76, for a total value of $852,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,315,301.36. The trade was a 26.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.76, for a total value of $34,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 23,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,594,475.64. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 26,489 shares of company stock worth $2,002,829. 1.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

NYSE EW opened at $73.25 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $43.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $72.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.00. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $58.93 and a fifty-two week 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.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. On average, analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Edwards Lifesciences 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.