NFJ Investment Group LLC Reduces Position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

NFJ Investment Group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 98.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 382 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 22,816 shares during the period. NFJ Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $28,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,000. 79.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.48, for a total value of $27,792.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,588 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,414.24. This trade represents a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.75, for a total transaction of $492,375.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,555,402. This represents a 12.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 71,853 shares of company stock valued at $5,163,062 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE EW opened at $71.56 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $42.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.27, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $71.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.80. 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 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

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.