Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Rating Increased to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) was upgraded by stock analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm presently has a $90.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $75.00. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price indicates a potential upside of 26.39% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $82.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $78.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.19.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

EW opened at $71.21 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.00 billion, a PE ratio of 10.28, a PEG ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.11. Edwards Lifesciences has a twelve month low of $58.93 and a twelve month high of $96.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $72.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.06. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total value of $1,647,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 198,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. This represents a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.08, for a total transaction of $185,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 23,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,717,841.12. This represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,195,180 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in 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 worth $2,080,845,000 after purchasing an additional 14,610,123 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter worth $555,939,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 475.8% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,243,976 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $314,182,000 after purchasing an additional 3,506,886 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 239.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,693,663 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $243,745,000 after purchasing an additional 2,606,950 shares during the period. Finally, Seilern Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter worth $109,490,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.