Short Interest in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Decreases By 6.3%

Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,700,000 shares, a decrease of 6.3% from the October 15th total of 8,220,000 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,070,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.3 days.

Edwards Lifesciences Stock Performance

Edwards Lifesciences stock opened at $69.89 on Tuesday. Edwards Lifesciences has a 1-year low of $58.93 and a 1-year high of $96.12. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.22 billion, a PE ratio of 10.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.12. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.02.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Edwards Lifesciences

In related news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.57, for a total value of $327,850.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $3,077,593.52. This represents a 9.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were 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 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. Insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,657,000 over the last ninety days. 1.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EW. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 86.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,532,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,080,845,000 after buying an additional 14,610,123 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 239.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,693,663 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $243,745,000 after acquiring an additional 2,606,950 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 57.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,516,260 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $622,695,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390,137 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the first quarter worth about $124,511,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,782,909 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,827,347,000 after purchasing an additional 809,605 shares in the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on EW shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $107.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $103.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.67.

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.