Choate Investment Advisors Sells 20,624 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Choate Investment Advisors lessened its position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 129,357 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 20,624 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors' holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $9,569,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versor Investments LP grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 102.5% in the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 4,455 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $294,000 after purchasing an additional 2,255 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $481,000. MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $245,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 3.9% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 38,186 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,520,000 after buying an additional 1,441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 8.9% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 18,140 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,197,000 after acquiring an additional 1,480 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company's stock.

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Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.76, for a total transaction of $34,380.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 23,189 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,594,475.64. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total transaction of $438,574.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 60,372 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,613,628.24. This trade represents a 8.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 51,303 shares of company stock valued at $3,715,776. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on EW shares. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.95.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE EW traded up $0.01 on Thursday, reaching $70.91. 4,052,919 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,532,147. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a one year low of $58.93 and a one year high of $96.12. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $71.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.69 billion, a PE ratio of 10.17, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 72.93%. Analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.