4,331 Shares in Natera, Inc. $NTRA Purchased by Commerce Bank

Commerce Bank acquired a new position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,331 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,176,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Horizon Investments LLC raised its position in shares of 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 boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp increased its stake in Natera by 5.5% in the first quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 982 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $196,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its position in Natera by 3.1% during the third quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 1,804 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alamea Verwaltungs GmbH lifted its stake in Natera by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Alamea Verwaltungs GmbH now owns 2,229 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $515,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on NTRA. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Natera from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen cut Natera from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $375.00 target price on Natera in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Natera from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Natera from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Two 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $319.38.

Natera Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NTRA opened at $336.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $48.53 billion, a PE ratio of -247.58 and a beta of 1.51. Natera, Inc. has a 12-month low of $157.43 and a 12-month high of $337.12. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $278.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $231.01.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The medical research company reported ($0.47) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.74) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -1.02 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Herm Rosenman sold 16,530 shares of Natera stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $4,132,500.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,250 shares in the company, valued at $1,062,500. This trade represents a 79.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.21, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 177,955 shares of company stock worth $40,704,193 over the last quarter. 5.05% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.