Meeder Asset Management Inc. Takes Position in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 24,410 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,626,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NTRA. Horizon Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Natera by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 244 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Natera by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $181,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Corp raised its holdings in Natera by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 982 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $196,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its holdings in Natera by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 1,804 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, Alamea Verwaltungs GmbH raised its holdings in Natera by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Alamea Verwaltungs GmbH now owns 2,229 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $515,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Natera

In other Natera news, CFO Michael Burkes Brophy sold 478 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.22, for a total value of $131,077.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 51,637 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,159,898.14. This represents a 0.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 Solomon Moshkevich sold 3,410 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.58, for a total value of $905,627.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 129,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,264,866.02. This trade represents a 2.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 181,045 shares of company stock valued at $41,330,968. 5.05% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Natera Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTRA opened at $314.18 on Tuesday. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.71 and a 52 week high of $326.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $265.78 and its 200-day moving average is $226.82. The firm has a market cap of $45.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -231.01 and a beta of 1.51.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The medical research company reported ($0.47) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.49) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $752.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $661.24 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 11.38% and a negative net margin of 7.11%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.74) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Natera, Inc. will post -1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Natera from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Natera from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. UBS Group set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Natera in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Natera from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Natera in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $319.38.

About Natera

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.