JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) to Neutral

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $72.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $105.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a buy rating and a $107.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $82.10.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Up 4.5 %

Shares of NYSE:EW opened at $62.37 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 3.71, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.58 billion, a PE ratio of 26.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11. Edwards Lifesciences has a 1 year low of $58.93 and a 1 year high of $96.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $87.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.92.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 22.35% and a net margin of 24.55%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.80, for a total transaction of $622,050.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,636,549.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, VP Jean-Luc M. Lemercier sold 14,400 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.21, for a total value of $1,212,624.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 173,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,639,824.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.80, for a total transaction of $622,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,636,549.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 81,099 shares of company stock valued at $7,003,553 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EW. DSM Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. First Community Trust NA acquired a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. 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.