Prudential PLC Purchases 1,057 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Prudential PLC grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 213,369 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,057 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $15,796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,132,036 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,117,845,000 after acquiring an additional 6,537,494 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 33,210,879 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,458,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678,154 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted 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 worth $1,733,270,000 after purchasing an additional 256,538 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,647,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,007,520,000 after purchasing an additional 126,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,775,276 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $723,664,000 after purchasing an additional 696,965 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wolfe Research cut Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $82.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 6,164 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $428,459.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,106,859.33. This represents a 9.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.87, for a total transaction of $797,287.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,153,526.69. This represents a 27.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,553 shares of company stock valued at $4,513,064 over the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 1.4 %

EW opened at $73.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $71.73 and a 200-day moving average of $70.62. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $58.93 and a fifty-two week high of $95.25. The company has a market capitalization of $42.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.48, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.15.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Edwards Lifesciences 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.