Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-six brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $80.81.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $105.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Edwards Lifesciences from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $87,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 29,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,051,843.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $87,437.50. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 29,333 shares in the company, valued at $2,051,843.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total value of $330,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,530.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,250 shares of company stock valued at $884,288 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of EW. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% during the second quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 23,484 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,169,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. City State Bank grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 16.5% during the 2nd quarter. City State Bank now owns 917 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Chapin Davis Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 8,548 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $817,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 771 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 6.0% in the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 2,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE EW opened at $67.15 on Friday. Edwards Lifesciences has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $96.12. The stock has a market cap of $40.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.94, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 3.71, a quick ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.83.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 22.35% and a net margin of 24.55%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.