Natera, Inc. $NTRA Shares Bought by Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC

Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 68.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,140 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 4,946 shares during the quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Natera were worth $2,051,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Natera by 2.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,676,653 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,141,594,000 after acquiring an additional 282,826 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Natera by 44.3% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,625,785 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,795,125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,263,822 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Natera by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,552,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $430,640,000 after purchasing an additional 166,768 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Natera by 20.6% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,937,647 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $327,346,000 after buying an additional 330,696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Natera by 44.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,726,750 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $291,717,000 after buying an additional 532,769 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on NTRA shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Natera from $190.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Natera from $197.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Natera from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Natera from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Natera to a “hold” rating and set a $172.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Natera currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.12.

Insider Transactions at Natera

In other news, Director Herm Rosenman sold 48,419 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.42, for a total value of $11,011,448.98. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,342 shares in the company, valued at $4,626,177.64. This represents a 70.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 4,692 shares of Natera stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.76, for a total value of $1,082,725.92. Following the sale, the insider owned 113,065 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,090,879.40. This represents a 3.98% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 365,164 shares of company stock worth $76,621,909 in the last quarter. Insiders own 5.63% of the company’s stock.

Natera Stock Up 3.2%

NASDAQ:NTRA opened at $231.96 on Friday. Natera, Inc. has a 52-week low of $125.38 and a 52-week high of $246.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $212.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.89. The company has a market capitalization of $32.08 billion, a PE ratio of -101.29 and a beta of 1.63.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The medical research company reported ($0.64) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by ($0.25). The business had revenue of $592.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $514.55 million. Natera had a negative net margin of 14.61% and a negative return on equity of 25.07%. The business’s revenue was up 34.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.26) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

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.