Royal Bank of Canada Increases Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Price Target to $101.00

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) had its price objective upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $95.00 to $101.00 in a research report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the medical research company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com lowered Edwards Lifesciences from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, OTR Global raised Edwards Lifesciences from a mixed rating to a positive rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $91.73.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of EW stock opened at $86.45 on Monday. Edwards Lifesciences has a 52-week low of $60.57 and a 52-week high of $96.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 3.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.59, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $90.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.19.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 23.56% and a net margin of 23.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. Edwards Lifesciences’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total value of $567,993.95. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 19,248 shares in the company, valued at $1,506,925.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP Jean-Luc M. Lemercier sold 14,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.32, for a total value of $1,329,408.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 173,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,049,739.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total value of $567,993.95. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Insiders have sold 194,004 shares of company stock worth $17,166,254 over the last quarter. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.3% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,556 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,127,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.0% during the first quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,487 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,033,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Geller Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 6.5% during the first quarter. Geller Advisors LLC now owns 1,965 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Martin Capital Advisors LLP boosted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Martin Capital Advisors LLP now owns 25,490 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,944,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 16,958 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,293,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.