Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Has $986,000 Position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 22.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,317 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 1,875 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $986,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of EW. Martin Capital Advisors LLP grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Martin Capital Advisors LLP now owns 25,490 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,944,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 16,958 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,293,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 771 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. DMC Group LLC lifted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 3,561 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. now owns 3,832 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $265,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EW opened at $90.90 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 3.75 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $87.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.64. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a one year low of $60.57 and a one year high of $96.12. The firm has a market cap of $54.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.11.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 23.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.54, for a total transaction of $437,700.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,108,777.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.54, for a total transaction of $437,700.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,108,777.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian bought 580 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $85.74 per share, for a total transaction of $49,729.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 3,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $280,198.32. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 127,104 shares of company stock valued at $11,267,464. 1.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EW has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $98.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.06.

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.