New York State Common Retirement Fund Increases Stock Holdings in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 56.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 90,847 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,800 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Natera were worth $15,348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Natera by 56.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,537,743 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,490,144,000 after acquiring an additional 3,795,315 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Natera by 44.3% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,625,785 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,795,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,263,822 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Natera in the second quarter valued at $277,749,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Natera in the 1st quarter valued at $113,375,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Natera by 140.4% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,253,790 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $177,298,000 after purchasing an additional 732,156 shares during the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Natera

In other news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 160,703 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.96, for a total transaction of $32,134,171.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 144,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,957,407.36. This trade represents a 52.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 3,000 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.99, for a total transaction of $479,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 117,559 shares in the company, valued at $18,808,264.41. The trade was a 2.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 300,287 shares of company stock valued at $61,704,402 over the last 90 days. 5.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Natera Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NTRA opened at $236.64 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -103.34 and a beta of 1.63. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $172.10. Natera, Inc. has a twelve month low of $125.38 and a twelve month high of $241.28.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The medical research company reported ($0.64) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by ($0.25). Natera had a negative net margin of 14.61% and a negative return on equity of 25.07%. The business had revenue of $592.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $514.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.26) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 34.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on NTRA. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Natera from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Natera from $197.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $268.00 price objective on shares of Natera and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Natera from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $172.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their target price on Natera from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Natera has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.53.

About Natera

Natera, Inc, a diagnostics company, develops and commercializes molecular testing services worldwide. Its products include Panorama, a non-invasive prenatal test that screens for chromosomal abnormalities of a fetus, as well as in twin pregnancies; Horizon carrier screening test for individuals and couples determine if they are carriers of genetic variations that cause certain genetic conditions; Vistara single-gene NIPT screens for 25 single-gene disorders that cause severe skeletal, cardiac, and neurological conditions; Spectrum, preimplantation genetic tests for couples undergoing IVF; Anora that analyzes miscarriage tissue from women; Empower, a hereditary cancer screening test; and non-invasive prenatal paternity product, which allows a couple to establish paternity without waiting for the child to be born.