California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 288,681 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 26.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 787,027 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 288,681 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.13% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $58,264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 5,208 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 886 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 12.5% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 26,167 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,727,000 after purchasing an additional 2,900 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 56.7% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 82,974 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $5,475,000 after buying an additional 30,038 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 117.1% in the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 10,294 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $679,000 after buying an additional 5,552 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the third quarter valued at $1,298,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.76, for a total transaction of $34,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 23,189 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,594,475.64. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.87, for a total value of $797,287.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,387 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,153,526.69. This represents a 27.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,553 shares of company stock valued at $4,513,064 over the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 4.9 %

EW stock traded down $3.59 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $69.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,511,781 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,846,895. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $71.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.66. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12 month low of $58.93 and a 12 month high of $95.25. The company has a market capitalization of $40.79 billion, a PE ratio of 9.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 72.93% and a return on equity of 19.40%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EW has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $79.95.

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.