Schroder Investment Management Group Takes Position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Schroder Investment Management Group bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 96,655 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,176,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EW. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 86.3% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 14,610,123 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at about $610,895,000. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter worth about $555,939,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $5,117,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,537,494 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 475.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,243,976 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $314,182,000 after purchasing an additional 3,506,886 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 27.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.76, for a total value of $34,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sold 62,553 shares of company stock worth $4,513,064 in the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on EW. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 4.9 %

EW stock opened at $69.39 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $71.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.89. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1-year low of $58.93 and a 1-year high of $95.25. The firm has a market cap of $40.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.15.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current 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.