California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 33,175 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,114,266 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 33,175 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $84,963,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in EW. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 37,480 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,597,000 after buying an additional 1,734 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 8,611 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $597,000 after buying an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 3rd quarter valued at $700,000. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 48.1% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 106,252 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,361,000 after buying an additional 34,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 323,224 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $22,393,000 after buying an additional 1,622 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on EW. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. StockNews.com cut Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Mizuho increased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.73.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:EW opened at $88.62 on Thursday. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 52-week low of $60.57 and a 52-week high of $96.12. The company has a market capitalization of $53.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 3.38.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 1,715 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.98, for a total transaction of $156,030.70. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,213 shares in the company, valued at $1,566,038.74. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, VP Daniel J. Lippis sold 1,715 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.98, for a total transaction of $156,030.70. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,566,038.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.29, for a total transaction of $567,993.95. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,248 shares in the company, valued at $1,506,925.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 194,004 shares of company stock worth $17,166,254 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.29% 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.