Ieq Capital LLC Purchases New Position in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 148,901 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,419,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NTRA. Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new position in shares of Natera in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Reflection Asset Management acquired a new stake in Natera during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Natera in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Palladiem LLC bought a new stake in Natera in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC acquired a new position in Natera in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on NTRA shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $355.00 price objective on shares of Natera in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Natera from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Robert W. Baird set a $348.00 price objective on shares of Natera in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Natera in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.38.

Natera Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of Natera stock opened at $332.03 on Friday. Natera, Inc. has a 12-month low of $157.43 and a 12-month high of $333.56. The company has a market capitalization of $47.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -244.14 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $274.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $229.39.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last issued its 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 net margin of 7.11% and a negative return on equity of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $752.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $661.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.74) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Natera news, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.21, for a total value of $2,389,310.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,343,009.43. This trade represents a 64.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 3,410 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.58, for a total value of $905,627.80. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Insiders sold a total of 181,045 shares of company stock valued at $41,330,968 over the last three months. 5.05% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Natera Company 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.