Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $175.70 and last traded at $175.53, with a volume of 715692 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $170.40.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NTRA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Natera from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Natera from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Craig Hallum raised their target price on shares of Natera from $121.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Natera from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Natera from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Natera presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.00.

Natera Trading Down 0.9 %

The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -99.43 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $159.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $131.68.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.57) by $0.31. Natera had a negative net margin of 14.01% and a negative return on equity of 26.23%. The business had revenue of $439.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $361.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.95) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 63.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Natera

In other Natera news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 1,709 shares of Natera stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.76, for a total transaction of $206,378.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 194,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,501,707.40. The trade was a 0.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Roelof Botha sold 87,473 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.12, for a total value of $14,793,433.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,224,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,135,977.44. The trade was a 6.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 127,932 shares of company stock valued at $20,635,430 over the last ninety days. 7.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Natera

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Natera by 13.6% in the 2nd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 4,460,557 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $483,034,000 after purchasing an additional 532,874 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Natera by 205.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,800,263 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $355,493,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883,481 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Natera by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,482,818 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $315,194,000 after acquiring an additional 85,236 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Natera by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,090,480 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $265,747,000 after acquiring an additional 143,825 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Duquesne Family Office LLC lifted its stake in shares of Natera by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Duquesne Family Office LLC now owns 1,974,880 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $213,860,000 after purchasing an additional 45,500 shares during the period. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Natera

Natera, Inc, a diagnostics company, develops and commercializes molecular testing services worldwide. Its products include Panorama, a non-invasive prenatal test that screens for chromosomal abnormalities of a fetus, as well as in twin pregnancies; Horizon carrier screening test for individuals and couples determine if they are carriers of genetic variations that cause certain genetic conditions; Vistara single-gene NIPT screens for 25 single-gene disorders that cause severe skeletal, cardiac, and neurological conditions; Spectrum, preimplantation genetic tests for couples undergoing IVF; Anora that analyzes miscarriage tissue from women; Empower, a hereditary cancer screening test; and non-invasive prenatal paternity product, which allows a couple to establish paternity without waiting for the child to be born.