Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Sells 43,796 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership decreased its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 48.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 45,988 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 43,796 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $3,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EW. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 11,135 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $824,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,057,013 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $301,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,484 shares during the period. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST now owns 4,800,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $355,344,000 after purchasing an additional 300,000 shares during the last quarter. Sivik Global Healthcare LLC purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter worth about $3,702,000. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,845,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on EW shares. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays raised their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.95.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total value of $438,574.38. Following the transaction, the director now owns 60,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,613,628.24. This represents a 8.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 6,164 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $428,459.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,106,859.33. The trade was a 9.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 62,853 shares of company stock valued at $4,534,247 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

EW opened at $67.04 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $39.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $71.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.65. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 52-week low of $58.93 and a 52-week high of $95.25.

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