Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Raised to "Buy" at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Free Report) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report released on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $90.00 price objective on the medical research company's stock, up from their previous price objective of $82.00.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on EW. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of 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. increased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $79.40.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EW traded up $0.59 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $73.91. 5,992,934 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,648,238. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.90. Edwards Lifesciences has a twelve month low of $58.93 and a twelve month high of $96.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.89. The company has a market cap of $43.59 billion, a PE ratio of 10.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 1.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.08, for a total transaction of $185,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 23,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,717,841.12. This represents a 9.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total value of $1,647,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 198,526 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,084,848.66. The trade was a 11.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 37,500 shares of company stock worth $2,508,350. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lantz Financial LLC raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 25.3% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 3,236 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. Williams Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the second quarter worth about $201,000. Focus Financial Network Inc. grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 57.0% during the 2nd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 3,954 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $345,000 after acquiring an additional 1,435 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 2,415 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.0% during the second quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 46,818 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $4,325,000 after purchasing an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.