Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Price Target Raised to $85.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) had its target price upped by Stifel Nicolaus from $83.00 to $85.00 in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the medical research company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on EW. OTR Global raised Edwards Lifesciences from a mixed rating to a positive rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Edwards Lifesciences from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com cut Edwards Lifesciences from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $92.71.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE:EW opened at $86.43 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $90.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.95. The company has a market capitalization of $52.02 billion, a PE ratio of 37.25, a P/E/G ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 3.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Edwards Lifesciences has a 52-week low of $60.57 and a 52-week high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 23.34% and a net margin of 23.01%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total transaction of $567,993.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,506,925.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total transaction of $567,993.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,506,925.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Heisz Leslie Stone sold 7,056 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.45, for a total value of $609,991.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,332,421. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 194,004 shares of company stock valued at $17,166,254 in the last three months. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EW. Nadler Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the first quarter worth $225,000. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 3.3% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 5,718 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $546,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 35.8% during the first quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,672 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $351,000 after buying an additional 969 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 66.8% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 117,658 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,243,000 after buying an additional 47,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LifeSteps Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the first quarter worth $106,000. 79.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Edwards Lifesciences Company 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.