Danske Bank A S Makes New Investment in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 61,302 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,640,000.

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

Natera Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ NTRA opened at $324.84 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $271.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $228.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -238.85 and a beta of 1.51. Natera, Inc. has a 52-week low of $157.43 and a 52-week high of $333.56.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Natera

In related news, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 3,410 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.58, for a total transaction of $905,627.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 129,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,264,866.02. The trade was a 2.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed 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, insider John Fesko sold 295 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.99, for a total value of $79,057.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 183,774 shares in the company, valued at $49,249,594.26. This trade represents a 0.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. Insiders have sold 181,045 shares of company stock worth $41,330,968 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Natera from $220.00 to $284.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Natera from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a report on Friday, July 17th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $355.00 price objective on shares of Natera in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Natera currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $319.38.

Natera Company Profile

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.