Jefferies Financial Group Upgrades Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) to “Buy”

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) was upgraded by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $98.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $80.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 17.33% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.89.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

EW stock opened at $83.53 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $77.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.79. The stock has a market cap of $49.04 billion, a PE ratio of 12.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 4.68, a quick ratio of 3.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Edwards Lifesciences has a 1 year low of $64.89 and a 1 year high of $84.66.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.08. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 72.96% and a return on equity of 15.01%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.67 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. Edwards Lifesciences has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.560-2.620 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 0.580-0.640 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 8,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.06, for a total transaction of $698,637.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 206,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,150,614. This trade represents a 4.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,958,774 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,085,574,000 after acquiring an additional 2,287,783 shares during the last quarter. Westfuller Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 3rd quarter valued at about $79,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 88.1% during the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 377,974 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $29,395,000 after purchasing an additional 177,010 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,627 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bailard Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 11,025 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $857,000 after purchasing an additional 2,625 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

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.