StockNews.com Upgrades Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) to “Buy”

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on EW. OTR Global raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “mixed” rating to a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.71.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $84.68 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 3.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market capitalization of $50.97 billion, a PE ratio of 36.50, a P/E/G ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $90.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.16. Edwards Lifesciences has a twelve month low of $60.57 and a twelve month high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 23.01% and a return on equity of 22.86%. Research analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 1,715 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.98, for a total transaction of $156,030.70. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,213 shares in the company, valued at $1,566,038.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.83, for a total value of $944,130.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 39,503 shares in the company, valued at $3,390,542.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 1,715 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.98, for a total transaction of $156,030.70. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,213 shares in the company, valued at $1,566,038.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 201,254 shares of company stock worth $17,788,304. 1.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 25,516 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,768,000 after purchasing an additional 833 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 163,984 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,361,000 after buying an additional 11,117 shares in the last quarter. Suncoast Equity Management lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Suncoast Equity Management now owns 8,450 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $585,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,691,000. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 39,392 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,729,000 after buying an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.