Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Takes $1.48 Million Position in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 5,457 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,481,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Horizon Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Natera by 22.0% in 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. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 5.5% in the first 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 in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 5.5% in the first quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 982 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $196,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH lifted its position 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 valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alamea Verwaltungs GmbH boosted its stake in shares of Natera by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Alamea Verwaltungs GmbH now owns 2,229 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $515,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on NTRA shares. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $340.00 price target on shares of Natera in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Natera from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Natera in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $310.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $355.00 target price on shares of Natera in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Natera from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Natera presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $319.38.

Natera Trading Down 3.7%

Shares of NTRA stock opened at $326.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -239.90 and a beta of 1.51. Natera, Inc. has a twelve month low of $157.43 and a twelve month high of $343.18. The business’s 50 day moving average is $285.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $233.61.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted its quarterly 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. Natera had a negative return on equity of 11.38% and a negative net margin of 7.11%.The business had revenue of $752.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $661.24 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.74) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Natera, Inc. will post -1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Natera

In related news, Director Roelof Botha sold 78,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.31, for a total value of $17,184,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,076,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $237,097,181.38. This represents a 6.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Fesko sold 6,517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.53, for a total transaction of $2,095,411.01. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 197,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,424,043.21. The trade was a 3.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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 184,472 shares of company stock worth $42,799,604 over the last three months. Insiders own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

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.