Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,490,000 shares, a decline of 28.7% from the February 13th total of 11,900,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,740,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 9,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.96, for a total value of $645,620.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,189,770.56. This represents a 16.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Steven R. Loranger sold 5,739 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total transaction of $438,574.38. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 60,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,613,628.24. This represents a 8.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 51,303 shares of company stock valued at $3,715,776. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,132,036 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,117,845,000 after acquiring an additional 6,537,494 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 33,210,879 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,458,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678,154 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,265,633 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,733,270,000 after purchasing an additional 256,538 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,647,341 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,007,520,000 after purchasing an additional 126,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,775,276 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $723,664,000 after purchasing an additional 696,965 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:EW traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $70.17. The company had a trading volume of 1,764,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,574,599. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.34. The firm has a market cap of $41.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.12. Edwards Lifesciences has a 1-year low of $58.93 and a 1-year high of $96.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The medical research company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 72.93% and a return on equity of 19.40%. Research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on EW. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.95.

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.