Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 3,506,886 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 475.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,243,976 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,506,886 shares during the quarter. Edwards Lifesciences comprises approximately 0.5% of Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.72% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $314,182,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.9% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,983 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,031,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 2,956 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 18.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,399,329 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $129,271,000 after buying an additional 219,486 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.8% during the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 54,512 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $5,035,000 after buying an additional 963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GDS Wealth Management grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 3.6% during the second quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 194,391 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $17,956,000 after acquiring an additional 6,764 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company's stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

EW stock traded down $0.75 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $70.29. 3,519,250 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,975,172. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a twelve month low of $58.93 and a twelve month high of $96.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.62.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 70.82% and a return on equity of 20.76%. Edwards Lifesciences's revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on EW. Bank of America upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $85.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.40.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 2,500 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.08, for a total transaction of $185,200.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 23,189 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,717,841.12. This trade represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the company'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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 198,526 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. This trade represents a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,500 shares of company stock worth $2,160,800 in the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.