Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 1,374 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $5,947,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EW. First Community Trust NA acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the second quarter worth $39,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 206.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 484 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 138.7% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 530 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. 79.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.57, for a total transaction of $327,850.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,077,593.52. The trade was a 9.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total transaction of $1,647,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 198,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,084,848.66. This represents a 11.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,657,000 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Up 0.4 %

EW opened at $71.56 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46. The company has a market capitalization of $42.20 billion, a PE ratio of 10.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $67.83 and its 200-day moving average is $75.37. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a one year low of $58.93 and a one year high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.67. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 70.82% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. Edwards Lifesciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Daiwa America downgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $66.00 to $63.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.67.

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.