Korea Investment CORP Buys 149,315 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Korea Investment CORP raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 46.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 470,650 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 149,315 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned approximately 0.08% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $34,842,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of EW. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 14,610,123 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth about $555,939,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $5,117,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,537,494 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $314,182,000 after purchasing an additional 3,506,886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $213,844,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on EW. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays upped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of EW opened at $70.90 on Friday. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a one year low of $58.93 and a one year high of $95.73. The company has a market cap of $41.68 billion, a PE ratio of 10.17, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $71.49 and a 200-day moving average of $70.49. 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 (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 6,164 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $428,459.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,106,859.33. The trade was a 9.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 23,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,594,475.64. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 62,553 shares of company stock worth $4,513,064. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

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.