Proficio Capital Partners LLC Buys Shares of 2,272 Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,272 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $617,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NTRA. Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new stake in shares of Natera in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Reflection Asset Management bought a new position in Natera during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Natera during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Palladiem LLC acquired a new stake in Natera in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Natera in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 99.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 3,076 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.39, for a total value of $819,415.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 99,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,611,561.83. This represents a 2.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 3,410 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.58, for a total transaction of $905,627.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 129,019 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,264,866.02. The trade was a 2.57% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 62,348 shares of company stock worth $15,870,496. Corporate insiders own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

Natera Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ NTRA opened at $325.17 on Thursday. Natera, Inc. has a 1 year low of $157.43 and a 1 year high of $343.18. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $289.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $236.14. The company has a market cap of $46.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -239.09 and a beta of 1.54.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group set a $260.00 price target on shares of Natera in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Natera from $249.00 to $363.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Natera in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Zacks Research upgraded Natera from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Natera from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.38.

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.