Jefferies Financial Group Lowers Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) to Hold

Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has $70.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $85.00.

EW has been the subject of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $107.00 to $91.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $91.00 to $76.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from an underperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $82.00 to $71.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $79.82.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE:EW opened at $66.84 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.87 and a current ratio of 3.71. Edwards Lifesciences has a fifty-two week low of $58.93 and a fifty-two week high of $96.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.86. The company has a market capitalization of $40.28 billion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.13.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 24.55% and a return on equity of 22.35%. Edwards Lifesciences’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.77, for a total value of $333,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,133,916.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.77, for a total transaction of $333,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,133,916.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 29,333 shares in the company, valued at $2,051,843.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 16,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,218,138 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of EW. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the 2nd quarter worth about $182,000. Cim LLC increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.4% in the second quarter. Cim LLC now owns 186,769 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $17,252,000 after purchasing an additional 2,641 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $8,917,000. New Century Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 34.2% during the 2nd quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 3,579 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $331,000 after buying an additional 912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $586,000. 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.