9,853 Shares in Natera, Inc. $NTRA Bought by Pallas Capital Advisors LLC

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 9,853 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,675,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NTRA. Abbot Financial Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Natera in the second quarter worth $1,537,000. UBS Group AG boosted its position in Natera by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 438,857 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $100,538,000 after buying an additional 71,355 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Natera by 3,373.1% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 11,253 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,251,000 after buying an additional 10,929 shares during the period. ABN Amro Investment Solutions grew its holdings in Natera by 44.6% in the 1st quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 9,346 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,869,000 after acquiring an additional 2,883 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Natera in the 2nd quarter worth $3,077,000. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Natera from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a report on Friday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Natera in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $310.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim upped their price target on Natera from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $375.00 price objective on Natera in a report on Friday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $319.38.

Natera Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NTRA opened at $314.18 on Tuesday. Natera, Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.71 and a 1-year high of $326.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $265.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $226.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -231.01 and a beta of 1.51.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The medical research company reported ($0.47) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.49) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $752.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $661.24 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 11.38% and a negative net margin of 7.11%.The business’s revenue was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.74) EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Natera

In other news, CFO Michael Burkes Brophy sold 478 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.22, for a total value of $131,077.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 51,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,159,898.14. This represents a 0.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 John Fesko sold 295 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.99, for a total transaction of $79,057.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 183,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,249,594.26. The trade was a 0.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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 sold 181,045 shares of company stock valued at $41,330,968 in the last three months. Company insiders own 5.05% 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.