12,783 Shares in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) Purchased by Donoghue Forlines LLC

Donoghue Forlines LLC bought a new position in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 12,783 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,024,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Natera by 35.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 264,801 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $28,680,000 after purchasing an additional 69,523 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in Natera in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $767,000. Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in Natera by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 7,590 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $822,000 after buying an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Natera by 24.1% during the 2nd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 4,846 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 940 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its stake in shares of Natera by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 11,915 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,290,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Natera

In other news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 78,553 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.97, for a total transaction of $12,958,888.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 267,629 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,150,756.13. This represents a 22.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 2,212 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.53, for a total transaction of $350,668.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,073,262.58. This trade represents a 10.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 224,824 shares of company stock worth $36,912,749. Insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on NTRA. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Natera from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Leerink Partners upped their price target on shares of Natera from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Natera from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Natera from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Natera in a research note on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Natera currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $162.94.

Natera Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTRA opened at $170.95 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $165.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -96.97 and a beta of 1.65. Natera, Inc. has a 12-month low of $62.96 and a 12-month high of $183.00. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.57) by $0.31. Natera had a negative net margin of 14.01% and a negative return on equity of 26.23%. The business had revenue of $439.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $361.43 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.95) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 63.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Natera

Natera, Inc, a diagnostics company, develops and commercializes molecular testing services worldwide. Its products include Panorama, a non-invasive prenatal test that screens for chromosomal abnormalities of a fetus, as well as in twin pregnancies; Horizon carrier screening test for individuals and couples determine if they are carriers of genetic variations that cause certain genetic conditions; Vistara single-gene NIPT screens for 25 single-gene disorders that cause severe skeletal, cardiac, and neurological conditions; Spectrum, preimplantation genetic tests for couples undergoing IVF; Anora that analyzes miscarriage tissue from women; Empower, a hereditary cancer screening test; and non-invasive prenatal paternity product, which allows a couple to establish paternity without waiting for the child to be born.