Natera, Inc. $NTRA Shares Sold by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp lowered its position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 11.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 74,780 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 9,262 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 0.05% of Natera worth $20,299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Natera by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 12,854,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,944,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,420 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Natera in the 2nd quarter worth $2,962,770,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Natera by 94.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,976,325 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,140,026,000 after buying an additional 2,420,263 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Natera by 2.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,389,599 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $545,624,000 after acquiring an additional 72,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coatue Management LLC increased its position in shares of Natera by 1,446.1% during the fourth quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 2,633,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $603,270,000 after acquiring an additional 2,463,008 shares during the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Natera Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTRA opened at $326.26 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $285.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $233.78. Natera, Inc. has a 1-year low of $157.43 and a 1-year high of $343.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -239.90 and a beta of 1.51.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTRA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Natera from $249.00 to $363.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Natera in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $310.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Natera from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Natera from $220.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Natera in a research note on Friday, June 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $245.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Natera has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Herm Rosenman sold 16,530 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction 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 represents a 79.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.21, for a total value of $2,389,310.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,343,009.43. This trade represents a 64.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 103,472 shares of company stock valued at $24,960,134 over the last 90 days. 5.05% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Natera 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.