Jennison Associates LLC Sells 144,366 Shares of Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Jennison Associates LLC decreased its holdings in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 42.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 195,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 144,366 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Natera were worth $44,889,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Natera by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 270 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Natera by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,541 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $353,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its position in shares of Natera by 3.1% during the third quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 1,804 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Corp raised its position in shares of Natera by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 931 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $213,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BOKF NA raised its position in shares of Natera by 1.9% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 3,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $601,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NTRA shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Natera from $265.00 to $250.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Natera in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. William Blair started coverage on Natera in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Natera from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Natera in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $300.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Natera has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $253.47.

Insider Transactions at Natera

In other news, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 2,182 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.10, for a total value of $445,346.20. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 145,700 shares in the company, valued at $29,737,370. The trade was a 1.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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, insider John Fesko sold 1,688 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.10, for a total value of $344,520.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 187,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,270,995.10. This trade represents a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 138,069 shares of company stock valued at $30,896,634. 5.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Natera Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:NTRA opened at $207.28 on Friday. Natera, Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.81 and a 1 year high of $256.36. The stock has a market cap of $29.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -135.48 and a beta of 1.57. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $202.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $213.75.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.46) by $0.81. Natera had a negative return on equity of 15.28% and a negative net margin of 9.03%.The firm had revenue of $665.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $600.68 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.41) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

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.