Abacus Planning Group Inc. Has $2.98 Million Stock Position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,207 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the quarter. Edwards Lifesciences makes up 0.5% of Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $2,977,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 86.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,532,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,080,845,000 after buying an additional 14,610,123 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter worth about $555,939,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 475.8% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,243,976 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $314,182,000 after buying an additional 3,506,886 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $243,745,000 after purchasing an additional 2,606,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seilern Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $109,490,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Daiwa America cut Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total transaction of $438,574.38. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 60,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,613,628.24. The trade was a 8.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.76, for a total value of $852,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,315,301.36. This trade represents a 26.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 26,489 shares of company stock valued at $2,002,829. 1.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE:EW opened at $74.73 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 1.10. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a twelve month low of $58.93 and a twelve month high of $96.12. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $72.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.82. The company has a quick ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. Equities research analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.