Meeder Asset Management Inc. Invests $6.63 Million in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 24,410 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,626,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new position in Natera during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Reflection Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Natera in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Natera in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Palladiem LLC bought a new position in shares of Natera in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Natera during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Natera news, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 11,000 shares of the business’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 directly owned 6,183 shares in the company, valued at $1,343,009.43. The trade was a 64.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Roelof Botha sold 78,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.31, for a total value of $17,184,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,076,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $237,097,181.38. The trade was a 6.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 181,045 shares of company stock valued at $41,330,968 in the last quarter. 5.05% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $375.00 price target on Natera in a report on Friday, August 7th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Natera from $249.00 to $363.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Natera from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Natera from $220.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Stephens increased their target price on shares of Natera from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.38.

Natera Stock Up 1.4%

NTRA opened at $314.18 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $45.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -231.01 and a beta of 1.51. Natera, Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.71 and a twelve month high of $326.03. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $265.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $226.82.

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, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $661.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.74) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Natera, Inc. will post -1.11 earnings per share for the current 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.