Vontobel Holding Ltd. Increases Stock Position in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 192.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,531 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 5,614 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Natera were worth $1,373,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Natera by 44.3% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,625,785 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,795,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,263,822 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Natera in the 2nd quarter valued at about $277,749,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Natera by 140.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,253,790 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $177,298,000 after purchasing an additional 732,156 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 532,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd raised its holdings in Natera by 149.1% in the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 562,985 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $95,111,000 after buying an additional 336,985 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Roy D. Baynes sold 7,668 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.08, for a total transaction of $1,710,577.44. Following the sale, the director owned 18,359 shares in the company, valued at $4,095,525.72. This represents a 29.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Herm Rosenman sold 48,419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.42, for a total transaction of $11,011,448.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,342 shares in the company, valued at $4,626,177.64. This represents a 70.42% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 365,164 shares of company stock worth $76,621,909. Company insiders own 5.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Natera from $190.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Natera from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $268.00 price objective on Natera and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Natera from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Natera from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $231.18.

Natera Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NTRA opened at $233.74 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $32.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -102.07 and a beta of 1.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $218.14 and a 200-day moving average of $181.47. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $125.38 and a 52 week high of $246.90.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted 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). Natera had a negative net margin of 14.61% and a negative return on equity of 25.07%. The firm had revenue of $592.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $514.55 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.26) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 34.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.