Handelsbanken Fonder AB Buys 46,800 Shares of Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 29.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 207,800 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 46,800 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Natera were worth $56,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Coatue Management LLC boosted its stake in Natera by 1,446.1% during the 4th quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 2,633,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $603,270,000 after acquiring an additional 2,463,008 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Natera by 94.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,976,325 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,140,026,000 after purchasing an additional 2,420,263 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Natera in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $372,398,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Natera by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 12,854,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,944,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,420 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Natera by 39.0% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,400,065 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $386,338,000 after purchasing an additional 673,315 shares during the period. 99.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Natera

In other Natera news, Director Roelof Botha sold 78,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.31, for a total transaction of $17,184,180.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,076,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $237,097,181.38. This represents a 6.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Herm Rosenman sold 16,530 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $4,132,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,062,500. This represents a 79.55% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 181,045 shares of company stock valued at $41,330,968 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on NTRA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Natera from $315.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird set a $348.00 price objective on Natera in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Natera in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $310.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Natera from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Natera from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $301.90.

Natera Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTRA opened at $318.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $256.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $224.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.59 billion, a PE ratio of -234.08 and a beta of 1.51. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.38 and a 52 week high of $326.03.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The medical research company reported ($0.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.49) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $752.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $661.24 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 11.82% and a negative net margin of 7.11%.The business’s revenue was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.74) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 EPS for the current 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.