Analysts Set Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Price Target at $95.06

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $95.06.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. OTR Global raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "mixed" rating to a "positive" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE:EW traded up $2.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $90.90. 5,269,002 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,261,125. The company has a fifty day moving average of $87.46 and a 200 day moving average of $84.64. Edwards Lifesciences has a 12 month low of $60.57 and a 12 month high of $96.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 3.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.18, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.11.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.02. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 23.01% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.89, for a total transaction of $688,426.95. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,809,931.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Michael A. Mussallem sold 29,350 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.42, for a total value of $2,712,527.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,486 shares of the company's stock, valued at $414,596.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.89, for a total transaction of $688,426.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,074 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,809,931.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 127,104 shares of company stock worth $11,267,464. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 600,994 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 9.5% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 18,973,304 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,813,089,000 after purchasing an additional 1,644,869 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 18,181,420 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,386,333,000 after purchasing an additional 3,048,274 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,827,510 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,283,098,000 after purchasing an additional 393,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $648,540,000. 79.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.