Senator Investment Group LP Purchases Shares of 32,500 Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Senator Investment Group LP acquired a new stake in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 32,500 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,822,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Horizon Investments LLC increased its position in Natera by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 244 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Natera by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $181,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. First Horizon Corp boosted its holdings in Natera by 5.5% in the first quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 982 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $196,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH boosted its holdings in Natera by 3.1% in the third quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 1,804 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alamea Verwaltungs GmbH grew its stake in Natera by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Alamea Verwaltungs GmbH now owns 2,229 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $515,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTRA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on shares of Natera in a report on Friday, August 7th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Natera from $249.00 to $363.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Natera in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Natera in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Natera from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Natera currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Natera news, insider John Fesko sold 6,517 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.53, for a total transaction of $2,095,411.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 197,257 shares in the company, valued at $63,424,043.21. This trade represents a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 41,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.03, for a total transaction of $9,089,637.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 108,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,035,465.29. This trade represents a 27.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders have sold 103,472 shares of company stock valued at $24,960,134 in the last quarter. 5.05% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Natera Price Performance

Natera stock opened at $326.26 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $285.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $233.78. The stock has a market cap of $47.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -239.90 and a beta of 1.51. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $157.43 and a 52 week high of $343.18.

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