Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Stock Position Lowered by Whitener Capital Management Inc.

Whitener Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,698 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 725 shares during the quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EW. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 5,581 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 1,316 shares in the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,845,000. RDA Financial Network raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 33,770 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,500,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $257,000. Finally, Central Valley Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 17,639 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,306,000 after buying an additional 2,145 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total transaction of $1,647,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 198,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,084,848.66. This represents a 11.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.57, for a total transaction of $327,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,077,593.52. The trade was a 9.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,000 shares of company stock worth $2,195,180 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE EW opened at $69.77 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $71.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.60. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12 month low of $58.93 and a 12 month high of $96.12. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market cap of $41.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.07, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.11.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Friday, October 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.48.

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.