TIAA Trust National Association Lowers Stock Position in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

TIAA Trust National Association cut its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 33.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,471 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,678 shares during the quarter. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,964,394 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,061,277,000 after acquiring an additional 600,994 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 18,973,304 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,813,089,000 after buying an additional 1,644,869 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 18,181,420 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,386,333,000 after buying an additional 3,048,274 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,827,510 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,283,098,000 after buying an additional 393,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter worth about $648,540,000. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian acquired 580 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $85.74 per share, with a total value of $49,729.20. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $280,198.32. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian bought 580 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $85.74 per share, for a total transaction of $49,729.20. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 3,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $280,198.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.29, for a total transaction of $466,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,378,659.44. 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 three months. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on EW. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. OTR Global raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “mixed” rating to a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Edwards Lifesciences from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.13.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Shares of EW stock traded up $0.69 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $86.50. 2,433,949 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,261,662. The company has a market cap of $52.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $89.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.82. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12-month low of $60.57 and a 12-month high of $96.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 3.75 and a quick ratio of 2.67.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The medical research company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 23.01% and a return on equity of 22.86%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.