Wells Fargo & Company Raises Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Price Target to $99.00

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) had its price objective lifted by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $94.00 to $99.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 14.86% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho increased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.33.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Down 2.1 %

NYSE EW traded down $1.82 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $86.19. 3,059,394 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,819,583. The company has a 50 day moving average of $90.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.76. The company has a quick ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 3.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Edwards Lifesciences has a 52-week low of $60.57 and a 52-week high of $96.12. The firm has a market cap of $51.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.61, a PEG ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 1.05.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 23.56% and a net margin of 23.35%. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total transaction of $567,993.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,506,925.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, Director Heisz Leslie Stone sold 7,056 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.45, for a total transaction of $609,991.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 26,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,332,421. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total value of $567,993.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,506,925.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 194,004 shares of company stock valued at $17,166,254. 1.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,363,400 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,992,709,000 after acquiring an additional 729,984 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter worth about $648,540,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

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.