Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Shares Sold by Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd decreased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,144 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 20,500 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd's holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $2,979,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 175.1% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 38,090 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $3,640,000 after buying an additional 24,242 shares during the period. BDF Gestion acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,148,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 54.7% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 30,245 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,890,000 after purchasing an additional 10,700 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,825,230 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $168,597,000 after purchasing an additional 50,124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AIA Group Ltd grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 91.7% in the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 749,524 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $49,461,000 after purchasing an additional 358,556 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences 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 transaction, the insider now owns 198,526 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,084,848.66. This trade represents a 11.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.57, for a total transaction of $327,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,077,593.52. This represents a 9.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,657,000 over the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $77.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $75.67.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

NYSE EW opened at $71.56 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $42.20 billion, a PE ratio of 10.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $67.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.37. 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 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 firm 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 company's revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.57 earnings per share 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.

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