MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 4,182 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

MetLife Investment Management LLC decreased its position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 161,754 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 4,182 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $10,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EW. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 54.7% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 30,245 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,890,000 after purchasing an additional 10,700 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 1st quarter valued at about $208,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 207.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 145,840 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $13,936,000 after acquiring an additional 98,338 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 175.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 38,090 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,640,000 after acquiring an additional 24,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 94.7% during the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 102,272 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,773,000 after purchasing an additional 49,751 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.46% of the company’s stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $72.07 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.32. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a twelve month low of $58.93 and a twelve month high of $96.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on EW. UBS Group lowered their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Edwards Lifesciences presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.91, for a total value of $1,647,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 198,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,084,848.66. This trade represents a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.77, for a total value of $333,850.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,133,916.72. This represents a 9.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock worth $2,657,000. Company 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.