Canaccord Genuity Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) Stock

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) had its price target lifted by equities research analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group from $375.00 to $500.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Canaccord Genuity Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 27.08% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $348.00 price target on shares of Natera in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Stephens boosted their price objective on Natera from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Natera in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $310.00 target price on the stock. BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of Natera from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Natera from $360.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $374.64.

Natera Stock Performance

Shares of Natera stock opened at $393.44 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $358.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $275.88. Natera has a 12-month low of $178.01 and a 12-month high of $437.41. The company has a market cap of $56.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -289.29 and a beta of 1.50.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The medical research company reported ($0.47) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.49) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $752.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $661.24 million. Natera had a negative net margin of 7.11% and a negative return on equity of 11.38%. Natera’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.74) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Natera will post -1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Natera

In other Natera news, CFO Michael Brophy sold 478 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.22, for a total value of $131,077.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 51,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,159,898.14. This represents a 0.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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 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. The trade was a 3.20% 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 sold 52,985 shares of company stock worth $16,119,137 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Natera

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTRA. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Natera in the second quarter worth $2,962,770,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Natera in the second quarter valued at about $199,960,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Natera in the second quarter valued at about $150,143,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Natera in the second quarter valued at about $149,278,000. Finally, Avala Global LP purchased a new position in Natera in the second quarter worth about $124,867,000. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Natera Company Profile

Natera, Inc is a diagnostics company that develops and commercializes molecular testing services designed to provide personalized genetic and genomic information. Its tests are used across reproductive health, oncology and organ transplantation, with the company combining next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics to analyze DNA and monitor disease-related signals.

In reproductive health, Natera offers Panorama noninvasive prenatal screening, Horizon carrier screening and Vistara single-gene disorder screening.