Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 4,175 Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 4,175 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $672,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Natera by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,676,653 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,141,594,000 after purchasing an additional 282,826 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Natera by 44.3% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,625,785 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,795,125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,263,822 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Natera by 7.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,552,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $430,640,000 after buying an additional 166,768 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Natera by 20.6% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,937,647 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $327,346,000 after buying an additional 330,696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Natera by 44.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,726,750 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $291,717,000 after buying an additional 532,769 shares in the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Natera

In related news, Director Herm Rosenman sold 48,419 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.42, for a total transaction of $11,011,448.98. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,626,177.64. The trade was a 70.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Burkes Brophy sold 37,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.54, for a total value of $9,016,424.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 64,123 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,552,392.42. The trade was a 36.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 499,569 shares of company stock worth $111,419,899. Insiders own 5.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Natera from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 1st. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Natera from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. BTIG Research boosted their price target on Natera from $230.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Barclays upped their price target on Natera from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Natera from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.20.

Natera Stock Down 1.8%

Natera stock opened at $235.93 on Thursday. Natera, Inc. has a 52-week low of $125.38 and a 52-week high of $256.36. The company has a market cap of $32.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -103.03 and a beta of 1.62. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $235.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $193.03.

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

Natera Company Profile

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.