Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) was upgraded by research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $90.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $75.00. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective points to a potential upside of 24.30% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price objective (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.19.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

EW opened at $72.41 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $42.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.45, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day moving average of $72.45 and a 200-day moving average of $70.09. 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 has a 1-year low of $58.93 and a 1-year high of $96.12.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 500 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.76, for a total value of $34,380.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 23,189 shares in the company, valued at $1,594,475.64. The trade was a 2.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total value of $1,647,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 198,526 shares in the company, valued at $13,084,848.66. This trade represents a 11.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 33,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,195,180. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 86.3% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,532,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,080,845,000 after purchasing an additional 14,610,123 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,265,633 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,733,270,000 after acquiring an additional 256,538 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,521,147 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $889,050,000 after acquiring an additional 284,918 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,078,311 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $599,078,000 after acquiring an additional 806,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter valued at about $555,939,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

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.