South Dakota Investment Council Decreases Position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

South Dakota Investment Council decreased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 238,019 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,600 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $17,621,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 138.7% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 530 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 31.1% in the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 700 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE EW opened at $73.25 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $72.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.00. 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 $43.20 billion, a PE ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $78.00 target price (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 60,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,613,628.24. This represents a 8.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 23,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,594,475.64. This trade represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,489 shares of company stock worth $2,002,829 in the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is 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.