Brokerages Set Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Price Target at $79.60

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-four ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $79.60.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EW. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Barclays boosted 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.48, for a total value of $27,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,414.24. This trade represents a 1.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.78, for a total value of $796,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,150,791.86. This trade represents a 27.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,192 shares of company stock worth $4,709,454 in the last three months. 1.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Woodline Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 7,805.0% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 825,358 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $59,822,000 after purchasing an additional 814,917 shares during the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the first quarter worth about $313,000. Vancity Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the first quarter worth about $9,367,000. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the first quarter worth about $370,000. Finally, Sciencast Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the first quarter worth about $208,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $77.92 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $45.71 billion, a PE ratio of 11.18, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. Edwards Lifesciences has a 52-week low of $58.93 and a 52-week high of $95.25. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.45 earnings per share 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.