Holocene Advisors LP Boosts Stake in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 118.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 572,832 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 310,452 shares during the quarter. Holocene Advisors LP owned 0.42% of Natera worth $96,774,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Natera by 83.5% during the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 233 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in shares of Natera during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Natera during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Natera in the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in Natera by 1,857.1% during the 1st quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 274 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on NTRA. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Natera from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $172.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, October 27th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Natera from $190.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Natera to a “hold” rating and set a $172.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Natera from $218.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.29.

Natera Price Performance

NTRA opened at $231.95 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.08 billion, a PE ratio of -101.29 and a beta of 1.63. The business’s 50-day moving average is $206.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.50. Natera, Inc. has a 1 year low of $125.38 and a 1 year high of $246.90.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Rowan E. Chapman sold 4,366 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.10, for a total transaction of $1,061,374.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,404,388.70. This represents a 43.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.99, for a total value of $479,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 117,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,808,264.41. This trade represents a 2.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 312,053 shares of company stock worth $64,527,735 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 5.63% of the company’s stock.

Natera Profile

Natera, Inc, a diagnostics company, develops and commercializes molecular testing services worldwide. Its products include Panorama, a non-invasive prenatal test that screens for chromosomal abnormalities of a fetus, as well as in twin pregnancies; Horizon carrier screening test for individuals and couples determine if they are carriers of genetic variations that cause certain genetic conditions; Vistara single-gene NIPT screens for 25 single-gene disorders that cause severe skeletal, cardiac, and neurological conditions; Spectrum, preimplantation genetic tests for couples undergoing IVF; Anora that analyzes miscarriage tissue from women; Empower, a hereditary cancer screening test; and non-invasive prenatal paternity product, which allows a couple to establish paternity without waiting for the child to be born.