D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. Makes New $3.49 Million Investment in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 12,842 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,486,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NTRA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Natera by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 12,854,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,944,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225,420 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Natera in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,962,770,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Natera by 94.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,976,325 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,140,026,000 after purchasing an additional 2,420,263 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Natera by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,389,599 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $545,624,000 after purchasing an additional 72,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coatue Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Natera by 1,446.1% in the 4th quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 2,633,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $603,270,000 after purchasing an additional 2,463,008 shares in the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Natera

In related news, Director Roelof Botha sold 78,000 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.31, for a total transaction of $17,184,180.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,076,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $237,097,181.38. The trade was a 6.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Herm Rosenman sold 16,530 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $4,132,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,250 shares in the company, valued at $1,062,500. This represents a 79.55% 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 181,045 shares of company stock valued at $41,330,968. 5.05% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTRA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen cut Natera from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Natera from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $355.00 price objective on shares of Natera in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Leerink Partners set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Natera in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group set a $260.00 target price on shares of Natera in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Natera currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $319.38.

Natera Stock Performance

NTRA stock opened at $324.84 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $46.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -238.85 and a beta of 1.51. Natera, Inc. has a 1 year low of $157.43 and a 1 year high of $333.56. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $271.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $228.67.

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

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.