Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Invests $263,000 in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,546 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 86.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,532,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,080,845,000 after purchasing an additional 14,610,123 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,265,633 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,733,270,000 after purchasing an additional 256,538 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,521,147 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $889,050,000 after purchasing an additional 284,918 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 9.8% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,078,311 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $599,078,000 after purchasing an additional 806,705 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $555,939,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE EW opened at $73.25 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $72.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.00. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1 year low of $58.93 and a 1 year high of $96.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.10.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, research analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.76, for a total value of $852,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,561 shares in the company, valued at $2,315,301.36. The trade was a 26.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.76, for a total transaction of $34,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 23,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,594,475.64. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 26,489 shares of company stock worth $2,002,829 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Daiwa America cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.95.

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.