Natera, Inc. $NTRA Shares Bought by Neuberger Berman Group LLC

Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 188,480 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 23,128 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC owned 0.14% of Natera worth $30,340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Natera by 44.3% in 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 acquired a new position in Natera in the 2nd quarter valued at $277,749,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Natera by 44.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,726,750 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $291,717,000 after purchasing an additional 532,769 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Natera by 20.6% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,937,647 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $327,346,000 after purchasing an additional 330,696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP boosted its stake in Natera by 118.3% during the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 572,832 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $96,774,000 after purchasing an additional 310,452 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Natera Trading Up 0.5%

Natera stock opened at $198.13 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $223.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $205.28. Natera, Inc. has a 12-month low of $125.38 and a 12-month high of $256.36. The stock has a market cap of $28.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -129.50 and a beta of 1.65.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.46) by $0.81. The company had revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $600.68 million. Natera had a negative net margin of 9.03% and a negative return on equity of 15.28%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.41) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NTRA. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Natera in a research note on Monday, January 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Natera from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on Natera from $230.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Natera from $239.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Natera from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $253.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Natera news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 85,299 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.72, for a total transaction of $19,680,185.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 127,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,504,704.32. This trade represents a 40.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Herm Rosenman sold 48,419 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.42, for a total value of $11,011,448.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,342 shares in the company, valued at $4,626,177.64. This represents a 70.42% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 363,303 shares of company stock valued at $84,523,079 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 5.63% of the company’s stock.

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.