Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Acquires 1,463 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 16.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,463 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,994 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the period. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth $1,993,000. Banque Pictet & Cie SA grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 106.2% in the fourth quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 156,968 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,620,000 after purchasing an additional 80,851 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 15,374 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,138,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the period. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 38.2% during the 4th quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 92,768 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,868,000 after purchasing an additional 25,657 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $76.23 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.41. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $58.93 and a twelve month high of $96.12. The company has a market capitalization of $44.96 billion, a PE ratio of 11.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 1.10.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. Research analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $82.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.95.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.76, for a total transaction of $852,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,315,301.36. This represents a 26.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.75, for a total transaction of $492,375.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,555,402. This represents a 12.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,489 shares of company stock valued at $2,002,829. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.