Jupiter Topco LLC Buys New Shares in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 10,826 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,941,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Natera in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,962,770,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc bought a new position in shares of Natera during the 2nd quarter worth about $5,117,000. Abbot Financial Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Natera during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,537,000. Eagle Health Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Natera during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,302,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Natera by 3,373.1% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 11,253 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,251,000 after acquiring an additional 10,929 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Natera Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NTRA stock opened at $325.17 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $46.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -239.09 and a beta of 1.54. Natera, Inc. has a 12-month low of $157.43 and a 12-month high of $343.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $289.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $236.14.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The medical research company reported ($0.47) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.49) by $0.02. Natera had a negative net margin of 7.11% and a negative return on equity of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $752.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $661.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.74) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $348.00 price target on shares of Natera in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Natera from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Natera from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Leerink Partners set a $330.00 target price on Natera in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Natera in a research report on Friday, June 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $245.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Natera has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Fesko sold 6,517 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.53, for a total transaction of $2,095,411.01. Following the sale, the insider owned 197,257 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,424,043.21. This represents a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.58, for a total value of $905,627.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 129,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,264,866.02. This trade 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. Insiders have sold 62,348 shares of company stock valued at $15,870,496 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

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.