Baird Financial Group Inc. Has $4.50 Million Position in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 277.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 26,624 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,576 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Natera were worth $4,498,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 3,795,315 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Natera in the second quarter valued at about $277,749,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Natera in the first quarter worth about $113,375,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 140.4% in the first 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 worth $177,298,000 after acquiring an additional 732,156 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas upgraded Natera to a “hold” rating and set a $172.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, October 27th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Natera from $190.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Natera from $220.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Natera in a research note on Monday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised Natera from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $172.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Natera currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.29.

Natera Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NTRA stock opened at $233.13 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $204.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.57. Natera, Inc. has a 1 year low of $125.38 and a 1 year high of $246.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -101.80 and a beta of 1.63.

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

Insider Transactions at Natera

In other news, Director Roy D. Baynes sold 7,668 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.08, for a total value of $1,710,577.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,095,525.72. This represents a 29.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Roelof Botha sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.12, for a total transaction of $17,709,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,154,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $272,529,231.76. This represents a 6.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 312,053 shares of company stock valued at $64,527,735. 5.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Natera Company Profile

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.