KBC Group NV Buys 104,499 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 896,162 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 104,499 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned about 0.15% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $59,137,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of EW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,964,394 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $5,061,277,000 after acquiring an additional 600,994 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,782,909 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,827,347,000 after purchasing an additional 809,605 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 57.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,516,260 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $622,695,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390,137 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 3,273,416 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $216,013,000 after purchasing an additional 494,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ownership Capital B.V. raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.2% during the third quarter. Ownership Capital B.V. now owns 2,993,019 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $197,509,000 after buying an additional 34,597 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.57, for a total value 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 trade represents a 9.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $87,437.50. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 29,333 shares in the company, valued at $2,051,843.35. This trade represents a 4.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,250 shares of company stock worth $2,744,438 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company's stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Edwards Lifesciences stock traded up $1.60 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $67.76. The stock had a trading volume of 6,390,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,640,860. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $39.96 billion, a PE ratio of 9.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 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. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $67.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.37.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.67. The company 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%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on EW shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $103.00 to $85.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Baird R W lowered Edwards Lifesciences from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays dropped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 9th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Edwards Lifesciences from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $75.67.

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.