Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Buys New Position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 20,787 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,920,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,571 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $515,000 after buying an additional 507 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 32,257.1% in the second quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 6,795 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $628,000 after acquiring an additional 6,774 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 7.2% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 88,565 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,181,000 after acquiring an additional 5,944 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 6.1% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,554,851 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $143,621,000 after purchasing an additional 89,132 shares during the period. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 30.9% during the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 472,895 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $43,681,000 after purchasing an additional 111,605 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

NYSE EW opened at $66.83 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $40.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.13. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 52-week low of $58.93 and a 52-week high of $96.12. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $69.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.83. The company has a quick ratio of 2.87, a current ratio of 3.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 22.35% and a net margin of 24.55%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total value of $330,400.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,530.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Daveen Chopra sold 1,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $87,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 29,333 shares in the company, valued at $2,051,843.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.08, for a total transaction of $330,400.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $3,101,530.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 16,250 shares of company stock valued at $1,218,138. 1.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on EW shares. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $91.00 to $76.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $101.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded Edwards Lifesciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.82.

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.