Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Sells 20,010 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. reduced its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 96.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 777 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 20,010 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $51,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EW. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 55.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,070 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 23,484 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,169,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 24.3% during the 2nd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,586 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $885,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873 shares during the period. Lantz Financial LLC grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 25.3% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 3,236 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $474,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on EW. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.25.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:EW opened at $70.19 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.13, a PEG ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.89. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a one year low of $58.93 and a one year high of $96.12. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.78.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.57, for a total value of $327,850.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,077,593.52. This represents a 9.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total transaction of $1,647,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 198,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,084,848.66. This trade represents a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,657,000. Insiders own 1.27% 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.