Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Price Target Increased to $78.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) had its price target raised by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $72.00 to $78.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the medical research company’s stock.

EW has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $77.00 to $66.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. TD Cowen downgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 9th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.67.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE EW traded down $0.97 on Friday, reaching $69.38. 8,171,703 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,595,216. Edwards Lifesciences has a 12 month low of $58.93 and a 12 month high of $96.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.87 and a current ratio of 3.71. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $68.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.49. The company has a market cap of $41.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.91, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.13.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 24.55% and a return on equity of 22.35%. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total value of $330,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,101,530.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total value of $330,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $3,101,530.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $87,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 29,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,051,843.35. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,250 shares of company stock worth $1,099,238. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the first quarter worth $28,000. First Community Trust NA acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 206.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 484 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the period. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the second quarter worth about $55,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Company Profile

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.