Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Invests $33.74 Million in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 124,300 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,741,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NTRA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Natera by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 12,854,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,944,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225,420 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Natera in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,962,770,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Natera by 94.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,976,325 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,140,026,000 after purchasing an additional 2,420,263 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Natera by 2.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,389,599 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $545,624,000 after purchasing an additional 72,087 shares during the period. Finally, Coatue Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Natera by 1,446.1% during the fourth quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 2,633,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $603,270,000 after purchasing an additional 2,463,008 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Natera

In other news, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 11,000 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.21, for a total transaction of $2,389,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,343,009.43. The trade was a 64.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 41,124 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.03, for a total transaction of $9,089,637.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 108,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,035,465.29. This trade represents a 27.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 177,955 shares of company stock worth $40,704,193 over the last ninety days. 5.05% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Natera Stock Performance

Shares of Natera stock opened at $338.70 on Friday. Natera, Inc. has a one year low of $157.43 and a one year high of $343.18. The company has a market cap of $48.82 billion, a PE ratio of -249.04 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $283.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $232.96.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on NTRA shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Natera from $249.00 to $363.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Natera from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $355.00 price target on shares of Natera in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on Natera from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $319.38.

About Natera

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.