Van ECK Associates Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Van ECK Associates Corp reduced its position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 16.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 142,082 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 28,012 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp's holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $13,578,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1,224.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,610,412 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $123,261,000 after acquiring an additional 1,488,791 shares during the period. Telos Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 158.2% during the fourth quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. now owns 91,405 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $6,970,000 after acquiring an additional 56,000 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 5,092.4% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 12,306 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $938,000 after purchasing an additional 12,069 shares in the last quarter. HealthInvest Partners AB bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,587,000. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2,740.5% during the fourth quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 498,029 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $37,975,000 after purchasing an additional 480,496 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Jean-Luc M. Lemercier sold 14,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.32, for a total value of $1,329,408.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 173,849 shares in the company, valued at $16,049,739.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.54, for a total value of $437,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $4,108,777.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Jean-Luc M. Lemercier sold 14,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.32, for a total transaction of $1,329,408.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 173,849 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,049,739.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 90,499 shares of company stock worth $7,866,511 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.27% of the company's stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE EW traded up $1.24 on Friday, reaching $92.32. 1,414,737 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,428,605. The firm has a market cap of $55.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $88.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.64. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a fifty-two week low of $60.57 and a fifty-two week 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.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $98.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $95.18.

Edwards Lifesciences Company Profile

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.