Royal Bank of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Stock

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) had its price target hoisted by Royal Bank of Canada from $80.00 to $85.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 16.82% from the stock’s previous close.

EW has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group cut their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.75.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE:EW traded down $1.44 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $72.76. 670,363 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,635,303. Edwards Lifesciences has a 52 week low of $58.93 and a 52 week high of $96.12. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $42.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.77.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.67. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 70.82% and a return on equity of 20.76%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total transaction of $1,647,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 198,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. This trade represents a 11.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.77, for a total value of $333,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,133,916.72. The trade was a 9.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,657,000 in the last three months. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EW. First Community Trust NA bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the third quarter worth $30,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 138.7% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 530 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.46% 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.