E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Purchases Shares of 1,798 Natera, Inc. $NTRA

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,798 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $488,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTRA. Horizon Investments LLC grew 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 during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Natera by 5.5% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $181,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Natera by 5.5% in 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 last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Natera by 3.1% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Alamea Verwaltungs GmbH boosted its position 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 valued at $515,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Natera news, Director Herm Rosenman sold 16,530 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $4,132,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,062,500. This trade represents a 79.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 41,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 108,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,035,465.29. The trade was 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 181,045 shares of company stock worth $41,330,968. Insiders own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

Natera Stock Down 0.1%

NTRA opened at $324.84 on Friday. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $157.43 and a 52 week high of $333.56. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $271.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $228.67. The company has a market cap of $46.82 billion, a PE ratio of -238.85 and a beta of 1.51.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NTRA. BTIG Research raised their price target on Natera from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research upgraded Natera from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Leerink Partners set a $330.00 price objective on Natera in a report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $340.00 target price on shares of Natera in a report on Friday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $319.38.

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.