Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 87,276 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lowered its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 6.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,257,962 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 87,276 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.21% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $83,013,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the first quarter valued at $28,000. First Community Trust NA acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the second quarter worth approximately $39,000. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 206.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 484 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on EW shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Friday, October 11th. TD Cowen cut Edwards Lifesciences from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $100.00 to $70.00 in a report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $107.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $75.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 29,333 shares in the company, valued at $2,051,843.35. This represents a 4.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total value of $347,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $3,262,521.36. This represents a 9.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,250 shares of company stock valued at $2,744,438. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company's stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock traded up $2.13 during trading on Monday, reaching $69.89. 7,021,039 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,654,247. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1-year low of $58.93 and a 1-year high of $96.12. The company has a market cap of $41.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.78, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.12. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $67.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current year.

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.