SWS Partners Boosts Holdings in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

SWS Partners grew its stake in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 11.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 47,037 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 4,980 shares during the quarter. Natera makes up about 1.8% of SWS Partners’ portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. SWS Partners’ holdings in Natera were worth $7,572,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Natera by 83.5% in the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 233 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Natera during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Natera during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 1,857.1% during the 1st quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 274 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Natera by 95.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 225 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. 99.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Roelof Botha sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.12, for a total transaction of $17,709,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,154,198 shares in the company, valued at $272,529,231.76. This trade represents a 6.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 4,692 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.76, for a total value of $1,082,725.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 113,065 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,090,879.40. This trade represents a 3.98% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 365,164 shares of company stock worth $76,621,909 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 5.63% of the company’s stock.

Natera Stock Down 0.8%

NASDAQ NTRA opened at $233.74 on Friday. Natera, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $125.38 and a fifty-two week high of $246.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $218.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.36. The stock has a market cap of $32.33 billion, a PE ratio of -102.07 and a beta of 1.63.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted its earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $592.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $514.55 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 25.07% and a negative net margin of 14.61%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.26) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on NTRA shares. Zacks Research lowered Natera from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $268.00 target price on Natera and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Natera from $218.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Natera from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Natera from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $231.18.

Natera 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.