Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Boosts Holdings in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 590.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,315 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 70,400 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Natera were worth $18,858,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NTRA. Robinhood Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Natera in the fourth quarter valued at $12,981,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Natera by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,628,914 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,871,914,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,129 shares during the last quarter. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC grew its holdings in Natera by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC now owns 132,500 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $21,329,000 after acquiring an additional 8,400 shares in the last quarter. Systrade AG bought a new stake in shares of Natera in the 4th quarter worth about $11,454,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Natera in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,069,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on NTRA shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $249.00 price target on shares of Natera in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Natera in a research note on Friday, June 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $245.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Natera in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, William Blair started coverage on Natera in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Natera has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $256.53.

Natera Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTRA opened at $216.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $31.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -133.11 and a beta of 1.56. Natera, Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.81 and a 1 year high of $256.36. The business has a fifty day moving average of $206.67 and a 200-day moving average of $215.69.

Insider Activity at Natera

In other news, CFO Michael Burkes Brophy sold 3,070 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.74, for a total transaction of $594,781.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 58,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,293,298.34. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 41,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.03, for a total value of $9,089,637.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 108,743 shares in the company, valued at $24,035,465.29. This trade represents a 27.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 159,378 shares of company stock valued at $34,640,860. 5.05% of the stock is 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.