Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Short Interest Update

Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,310,000 shares, an increase of 54.9% from the December 15th total of 7,300,000 shares. Approximately 2.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 5,040,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EW. Daiwa America downgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Citigroup increased their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.48.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of the company’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 owns 198,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. This represents a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.57, for a total transaction of $327,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,077,593.52. The trade was a 9.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 33,000 shares of company stock worth $2,195,180. 1.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 11,135 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $824,000 after buying an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,057,013 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $301,355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043,484 shares during the last quarter. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. WELLCOME TRUST LTD THE as trustee of the WELLCOME TRUST now owns 4,800,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $355,344,000 after acquiring an additional 300,000 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 478,418 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,571,000 after purchasing an additional 40,348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AIA Group Ltd grew its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 91.7% during the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 749,524 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $49,461,000 after purchasing an additional 358,556 shares during the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Down 0.1 %

Edwards Lifesciences stock traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $69.77. 5,031,232 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,230,130. 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 has a 52-week low of $58.93 and a 52-week high of $96.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $71.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.60.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.67. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.