California State Teachers Retirement System Buys 56,126,974 Shares of Natera, Inc. $NTRA

California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 28,373.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 56,324,789 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 56,126,974 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.39% of Natera worth $15,289,364,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its position in Natera by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 244 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Natera by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $181,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG increased its position in shares of Natera by 48.5% in the second quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 150 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Corp increased its position in shares of Natera by 5.5% in the first quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 982 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $196,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its holdings in Natera by 3.1% during the third quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 1,804 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTRA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Natera in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price target for the company. Zacks Research raised shares of Natera from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Natera from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Natera from $315.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, BTIG Research increased their price target on shares of Natera from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Natera

In other Natera news, insider John Fesko sold 6,517 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.53, for a total transaction of $2,095,411.01. Following the transaction, the insider owned 197,257 shares in the company, valued at $63,424,043.21. This represents a 3.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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, Director Herm Rosenman sold 16,530 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $4,132,500.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,250 shares in the company, valued at $1,062,500. This represents a 79.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 71,206 shares of company stock valued at $19,944,069 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

Natera Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTRA opened at $328.18 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $293.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $238.68. Natera, Inc. has a one year low of $157.43 and a one year high of $343.18. The firm has a market cap of $47.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -241.31 and a beta of 1.54.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted 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 company had revenue of $752.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $661.24 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 11.38% and a negative net margin of 7.11%.The company’s revenue was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.74) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Natera, Inc. will post -1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.