HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Position in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 740.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 75,936 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 66,896 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Natera were worth $17,396,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Horizon Investments LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Natera by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 270 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Natera by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,541 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH increased its stake in shares of Natera by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 1,804 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp increased its stake in shares of Natera by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 931 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $213,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Natera Trading Down 0.2%

Natera stock opened at $203.19 on Friday. Natera, Inc. has a 1-year low of $131.81 and a 1-year high of $256.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -124.66 and a beta of 1.57. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $200.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $215.33.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.46) by $0.81. Natera had a negative net margin of 9.05% and a negative return on equity of 14.74%. The business had revenue of $665.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $600.68 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.41) EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Natera

In related news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 5,838 shares of Natera stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.14, for a total value of $1,191,769.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 150,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,777,983.66. The trade was a 3.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a 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 3,405 shares of Natera stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.69, for a total transaction of $693,564.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 142,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,984,068.55. This represents a 2.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders have sold a total of 38,266 shares of company stock valued at $7,747,808 over the last 90 days. 5.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTRA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Natera in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Natera in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Natera from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Natera from $260.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Natera in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $256.60.

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.