Leeward Financial Partners LLC Buys Shares of 17,343 Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Leeward Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 17,343 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,973,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Horizon Investments LLC raised its stake in Natera by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 244 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in Natera by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 270 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Natera by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,541 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $353,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its stake in Natera by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 1,804 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp raised its stake in Natera by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 931 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $213,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Fesko sold 1,688 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.10, for a total transaction of $344,520.80. Following the transaction, the insider owned 187,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,270,995.10. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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. Also, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 3,405 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.69, for a total value of $693,564.45. Following the transaction, the insider owned 142,295 shares in the company, valued at $28,984,068.55. This represents a 2.34% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 38,266 shares of company stock valued at $7,747,808. Insiders own 5.63% of the company’s stock.

Natera Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ NTRA opened at $203.11 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -124.61 and a beta of 1.57. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $201.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $215.53. Natera, Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.81 and a 52-week high of $256.36.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.46) by $0.81. The business had revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $600.68 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 14.74% and a negative net margin of 9.05%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.41) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Natera in a research note on Friday, May 8th. BTIG Research dropped their price objective on Natera from $260.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. William Blair assumed coverage on Natera in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Natera from $265.00 to $250.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Natera currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $256.60.

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.