Hilltop Holdings Inc. Has $269,000 Stock Holdings in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. reduced its position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,118 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 677 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Natera were worth $269,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NTRA. Comerica Bank increased its position in Natera by 458.0% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 14,866 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after acquiring an additional 12,202 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Natera by 514.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,700 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,802,000 after purchasing an additional 16,496 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new position in Natera during the 1st quarter worth $442,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Natera by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 324 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Natera by 27.2% during the 2nd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,828 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $739,000 after buying an additional 1,460 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Natera

In other Natera news, Director Rowan E. Chapman sold 2,614 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.68, for a total transaction of $333,755.52. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,017,481.92. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Roelof Botha sold 87,473 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.12, for a total transaction of $14,793,433.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,224,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,135,977.44. This represents a 6.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 133,976 shares of company stock valued at $21,119,238 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Natera Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Natera stock opened at $171.65 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.66 billion, a PE ratio of -97.53 and a beta of 1.63. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.56 and a 52 week high of $175.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $140.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 4.23 and a current ratio of 4.39.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.57) by $0.31. Natera had a negative net margin of 14.01% and a negative return on equity of 26.23%. The business had revenue of $439.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $361.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.95) EPS. Natera’s revenue was up 63.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Natera, Inc. will post -1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Natera from $132.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Natera from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Natera from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Leerink Partners lifted their target price on shares of Natera from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Natera from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.59.

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.