Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $183.00 and last traded at $169.30, with a volume of 1734013 shares. The stock had previously closed at $175.00.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on NTRA shares. Leerink Partners boosted their target price on Natera from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Natera from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Craig Hallum raised their target price on Natera from $121.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Natera from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Natera from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Natera has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.00.

Natera Trading Down 3.3 %

The stock has a market cap of $22.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -96.19 and a beta of 1.65. The business’s 50 day moving average is $160.14 and its 200 day moving average is $132.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 4.39 and a quick ratio of 4.23.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Natera news, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 256 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.07, for a total value of $30,737.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 111,891 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,434,752.37. The trade was a 0.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Roelof Botha sold 87,473 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.12, for a total value of $14,793,433.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,224,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,135,977.44. The trade was a 6.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 123,409 shares of company stock valued at $20,045,631. 7.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Natera

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NTRA. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Natera by 34.3% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 372 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Natera by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 430 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its position in Natera by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 16,280 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,577,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Natera by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,477 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RiverPark Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 3.5% in the third quarter. RiverPark Advisors LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $425,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Natera Company Profile

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.