Stifel Nicolaus Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Stock

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) had its target price boosted by equities researchers at Stifel Nicolaus from $70.00 to $75.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price indicates a potential upside of 4.85% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on EW. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $85.00 to $70.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.35.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

EW stock opened at $71.53 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $42.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.32, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $68.55 and a 200-day moving average of $74.76. Edwards Lifesciences has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. Edwards Lifesciences’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total transaction of $1,647,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 198,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. The trade was a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.57, for a total transaction of $327,850.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,077,593.52. This trade represents a 9.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,657,000. Company insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Stableford Capital II LLC raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 2.7% during the second quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC now owns 6,104 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $533,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Purus Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Purus Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,212 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Busey Bank increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Busey Bank now owns 8,838 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $816,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 2,415 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 31.1% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 700 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. 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.