Bank of Nova Scotia Acquires 36,345 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW)

Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW) by 20.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 216,604 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 36,345 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $16,048,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the fourth quarter worth about $54,000. 79.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Edwards Lifesciences Trading Down 2.3 %

EW opened at $68.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 2.89. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 12-month low of $58.93 and a 12-month high of $95.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $71.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.13 billion, a PE ratio of 9.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.15.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.95.

Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences

In other news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 9,500 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.96, for a total transaction of $645,620.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,189,770.56. The trade was a 16.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Bernard J. Zovighian sold 6,164 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.51, for a total transaction of $428,459.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,106,859.33. This represents a 9.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,853 shares of company stock valued at $4,534,247 over the last 90 days. 1.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.