Advisors Asset Management Inc. Buys 714 Shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,778 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Natera were worth $607,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NTRA. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Natera in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Natera by 148.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 318 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Natera by 50.0% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 324 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tobam bought a new position in Natera in the second quarter valued at approximately $74,000. 99.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTRA has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Natera from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Natera from $132.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Natera from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Natera from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Natera in a report on Friday, August 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.59.

Natera Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NTRA stock opened at $168.45 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.88 and a 1 year high of $171.95. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $133.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $119.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -95.71 and a beta of 1.53.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $439.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $361.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.95) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 63.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Natera, Inc. will post -1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 9,682 shares of Natera stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.98, for a total transaction of $1,548,926.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,552,445.92. The trade was a 49.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 5,024 shares of Natera stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.48, for a total transaction of $645,483.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 195,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,141,737.28. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,503 shares of company stock valued at $6,325,804 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

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.