Pitcairn Co. Cuts Stock Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Pitcairn Co. lowered its position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 33.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,025 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 7,675 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $1,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 86.3% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,532,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,080,845,000 after purchasing an additional 14,610,123 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $610,895,000. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $555,939,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $5,117,845,000 after acquiring an additional 6,537,494 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 475.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

EW opened at $69.39 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $71.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.62. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $58.93 and a fifty-two week high of $95.25. The firm has a market cap of $40.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.15.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.87, for a total value of $797,287.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,153,526.69. This trade represents a 27.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total transaction of $438,574.38. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 60,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,613,628.24. This trade represents a 8.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,553 shares of company stock valued at $4,513,064 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America raised 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 research note on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences 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.