Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Citigroup Analyst Says

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) had its price target increased by Citigroup from $81.00 to $83.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the medical research company’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays increased their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI cut their target price 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, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.65.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of EW stock opened at $73.32 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.24 billion, a PE ratio of 10.58, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.08. 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 has a one year low of $58.93 and a one year high of $96.12.

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

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total value of $1,647,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 198,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. This represents a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $347,550.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,262,521.36. This represents a 9.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 35,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,323,150. 1.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EW. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 86.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,532,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,080,845,000 after purchasing an additional 14,610,123 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 239.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,693,663 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $243,745,000 after acquiring an additional 2,606,950 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,782,909 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,827,347,000 after acquiring an additional 809,605 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,078,311 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $599,078,000 after purchasing an additional 806,705 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,628,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

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.