EP Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $1.08 Million in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 3,977 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,080,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Natera during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,962,770,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Natera during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,117,000. Abbot Financial Management Inc. bought a new position in Natera during the second quarter worth $1,537,000. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Natera by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 438,857 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $100,538,000 after purchasing an additional 71,355 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Health Investments LP bought a new stake in Natera in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,302,000. 99.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Natera Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTRA opened at $332.03 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $274.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $229.38. Natera, Inc. has a one year low of $157.43 and a one year high of $333.56. The company has a market cap of $47.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -244.14 and a beta of 1.51.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The medical research company reported ($0.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.49) by $0.02. Natera had a negative return on equity of 11.38% and a negative net margin of 7.11%.The company had revenue of $752.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $661.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.74) EPS. Natera’s revenue was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -1.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on NTRA. Wolfe Research began coverage on Natera in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Natera from $249.00 to $363.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Natera from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of Natera from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $340.00 price target on shares of Natera in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $319.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Roelof Botha sold 78,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.31, for a total value of $17,184,180.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,076,198 shares in the company, valued at $237,097,181.38. This represents a 6.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.21, for a total transaction of $2,389,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,343,009.43. The trade was a 64.02% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 181,045 shares of company stock valued at $41,330,968 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

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.