Legal & General Group Plc Sells 1,135,493 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 21.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,220,318 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 1,135,493 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.72% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $312,430,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,132,036 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $5,117,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,537,494 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 5.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,678,154 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,647,341 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,007,520,000 after purchasing an additional 126,194 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,775,276 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $723,664,000 after acquiring an additional 696,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $610,895,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $78.55.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Up 0.8 %

EW stock traded up $0.57 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $69.97. 740,848 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,897,919. The company has a market cap of $41.13 billion, a PE ratio of 10.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.15. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a one year low of $58.93 and a one year high of $95.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $71.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.74.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total transaction of $438,574.38. Following the sale, the director now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 11,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.76, for a total value of $852,300.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,561 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,315,301.36. The trade was a 26.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In 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 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.