Sit Investment Associates Inc. Sells 5,900 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Sit Investment Associates Inc. lowered its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 50.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,850 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 5,900 shares during the quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc.'s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $433,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,132,036 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $5,117,845,000 after buying an additional 6,537,494 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 33,210,879 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,458,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678,154 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,647,341 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,007,520,000 after purchasing an additional 126,194 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,775,276 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $723,664,000 after purchasing an additional 696,965 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter worth $610,895,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on EW shares. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Barclays boosted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $78.55.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock traded up $1.06 on Friday, hitting $69.32. The stock had a trading volume of 4,890,092 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,907,200. The stock has a market cap of $40.75 billion, a price-to-earnings 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $58.93 and a twelve month high of $95.25. The business's 50 day moving average is $71.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.70.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.87, for a total transaction of $797,287.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,387 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,153,526.69. This represents a 27.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total value 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 $4,613,628.24. This represents a 8.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 62,853 shares of company stock valued at $4,534,247. 1.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.