Short Interest in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) Increases By 54.9%

by · The Cerbat Gem

Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW – Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,310,000 shares, a growth of 54.9% from the December 15th total of 7,300,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,040,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days. Approximately 2.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EW traded down $0.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $69.77. The company had a trading volume of 5,031,232 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,230,130. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $71.99 and its 200 day moving average is $71.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.89 and a current ratio of 3.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.15 billion, a PE ratio of 10.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.11. Edwards Lifesciences has a twelve month low of $58.93 and a twelve month high of $96.12.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW – Get Free Report) 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67. Edwards Lifesciences had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 70.82%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.57, for a total transaction of $327,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at $3,077,593.52. This trade represents a 9.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 25,000 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 198,526 shares in the company, valued at $13,084,848.66. This represents a 11.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,000 shares of company stock worth $2,195,180 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Edwards Lifesciences

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 86.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,532,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,080,845,000 after purchasing an additional 14,610,123 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 475.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,243,976 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $314,182,000 after purchasing an additional 3,506,886 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 239.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,693,663 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $243,745,000 after purchasing an additional 2,606,950 shares during the last quarter. Seilern Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $109,490,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,057,013 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $301,355,000 after buying an additional 1,043,484 shares during the last quarter. 79.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on EW. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Daiwa America cut Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Edwards Lifesciences from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.48.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on EW

About Edwards Lifesciences

(Get Free Report)

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.

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