Franklin Resources Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,196,059 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 27,193 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $83,282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on EW shares. Bank of America raised Edwards Lifesciences from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday. Barclays lifted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $79.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.08, for a total transaction of $185,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 23,189 shares in the company, valued at $1,717,841.12. This represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total value of $347,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,262,521.36. This represents a 9.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,500 shares of company stock valued at $2,508,350 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.29% of the company's stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EW traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $74.12. 7,057,427 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,658,550. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business's fifty day moving average price is $69.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.80. The company has a market cap of $43.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.67, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 1.12. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 70.82% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.56 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.