2,272 Shares in Natera, Inc. $NTRA Acquired by Proficio Capital Partners LLC

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 2,272 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $617,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Natera in the second quarter worth $39,000. Corient Private Wealth LP bought a new stake in shares of Natera during the second quarter worth $4,215,000. PointState Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Natera in the second quarter valued at $70,037,000. Atreides Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Natera in the second quarter valued at $28,335,000. Finally, Avala Global LP bought a new position in shares of Natera in the second quarter valued at about $124,867,000. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Natera Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NTRA stock opened at $338.70 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $283.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $232.96. The firm has a market cap of $48.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -249.04 and a beta of 1.51. Natera, Inc. has a 12 month low of $157.43 and a 12 month high of $343.18.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The medical research company reported ($0.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.49) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $752.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $661.24 million. Natera had a negative net margin of 7.11% and a negative return on equity of 11.38%. The company’s revenue was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.74) EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Natera, Inc. will post -1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NTRA. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Natera from $220.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Natera from $249.00 to $363.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Natera from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Natera from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $340.00 price target on shares of Natera in a report on Friday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $319.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Natera

In related news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 3,076 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.39, for a total value of $819,415.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 99,897 shares in the company, valued at $26,611,561.83. This represents a 2.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 3,410 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.58, for a total transaction of $905,627.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 129,019 shares in the company, valued at $34,264,866.02. This represents a 2.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders sold 177,955 shares of company stock valued at $40,704,193. 5.05% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Natera Profile

Natera is a global diagnostics company that develops and commercializes cell-free DNA and other genetic testing technologies for clinical applications. The company focuses on three principal areas: reproductive health (including non-invasive prenatal testing and carrier screening), oncology (tumor-informed assays for minimal residual disease and recurrence monitoring), and organ transplantation (cell-free DNA tests to detect allograft injury). Natera combines laboratory testing, proprietary bioinformatics, and clinical reporting to deliver personalized genetic information to clinicians and patients.

Key product offerings include Panorama, a non-invasive prenatal test that screens for fetal chromosomal abnormalities and select single-gene conditions; Horizon carrier screening for inherited conditions; Signatera, a personalized, tumor-informed assay used for detecting minimal residual disease and monitoring treatment response in cancer patients; and Prospera, a donor-derived cell-free DNA test used to assess the risk of organ rejection.