UBS Group AG Grows Stake in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

UBS Group AG raised its stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 19.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 438,857 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 71,355 shares during the quarter. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Natera were worth $100,538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of NTRA. Horizon Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Natera during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Natera during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Natera during the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Natera by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 270 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Natera during the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 2,182 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.10, for a total transaction of $445,346.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 145,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,737,370. The trade was a 1.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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, insider John Fesko sold 1,688 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.10, for a total value of $344,520.80. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 187,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,270,995.10. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 138,069 shares of company stock worth $30,896,634. 5.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NTRA. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Natera in a research note on Monday, January 12th. William Blair began coverage on Natera in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Citigroup began coverage on Natera in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $300.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Natera from $265.00 to $250.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.47.

Natera Trading Up 0.5%

NTRA opened at $207.28 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $202.02 and its 200-day moving average is $214.03. The stock has a market cap of $29.50 billion, a PE ratio of -135.48 and a beta of 1.57. Natera, Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.81 and a twelve month high of $256.36.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.46) by $0.81. The company had revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $600.68 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 15.28% and a negative net margin of 9.03%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.41) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.71 EPS for the current 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.