Wellington Management Group LLP Acquires 1,678,154 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,210,879 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,678,154 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 0.06% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $2,458,601,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,132,036 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,117,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,537,494 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,265,633 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,733,270,000 after buying an additional 256,538 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,521,147 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $889,050,000 after buying an additional 284,918 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,775,276 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $723,664,000 after acquiring an additional 696,965 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $610,895,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.95.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.48, for a total value of $27,792.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,414.24. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.87, for a total transaction of $797,287.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,153,526.69. This trade represents a 27.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 62,553 shares of company stock worth $4,513,064. 1.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 0.4 %

EW opened at $70.90 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $71.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.53. The company has a quick ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a twelve month low of $58.93 and a twelve month high of $95.73. The stock has a market cap of $41.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.17, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

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.