Natera, Inc. $NTRA Stake Raised by Engineers Gate Manager LP

Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its holdings in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 43.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,839 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,395 shares during the quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP’s holdings in Natera were worth $11,086,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Natera during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,962,770,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Natera in the second quarter worth $5,117,000. Abbot Financial Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Natera in the second quarter worth $1,537,000. Eagle Health Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Natera during the second quarter valued at $4,302,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of Natera by 3,373.1% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 11,253 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,251,000 after buying an additional 10,929 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Natera news, CEO Steven Chapman sold 3,580 shares of Natera stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.07, for a total value of $909,570.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,162,350.11. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at 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, Director Herm Rosenman sold 16,530 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 4,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,062,500. The trade was 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 a total of 71,206 shares of company stock worth $19,944,069 in the last ninety days. 5.05% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Natera Trading Down 1.3%

NTRA stock opened at $326.14 on Friday. Natera, Inc. has a 1 year low of $157.43 and a 1 year high of $343.18. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $296.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $241.05. The firm has a market cap of $47.01 billion, a PE ratio of -239.81 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) EPS 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 firm had revenue of $752.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $661.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.74) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Natera from $290.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a research note on Friday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Natera from $315.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on Natera from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn began coverage on Natera in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $385.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $330.83.

Natera Profile

Natera, Inc is a diagnostics company that develops and commercializes molecular testing services based on cell-free DNA and other genomic technologies. The company focuses on reproductive health, oncology and organ health, providing tests intended to support screening, diagnosis, treatment planning and disease monitoring.

Its reproductive health portfolio includes Panorama, a noninvasive prenatal test that screens for certain chromosomal conditions, and Horizon, a carrier screening test.