Gries Financial LLC Buys New Shares in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Gries Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,804 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $286,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Natera by 104.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 190 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Natera by 148.4% during the 2nd 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 period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Natera by 345.8% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Natera by 34.3% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 372 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Natera by 32.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 430 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Natera news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 4,728 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.41, for a total value of $692,226.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 185,034 shares in the company, valued at $27,090,827.94. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 stock was sold at an average price of $158.53, for a total value of $350,668.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Insiders have sold a total of 243,122 shares of company stock valued at $40,336,290 in the last 90 days. 7.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Natera from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Barclays began coverage on Natera in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Natera from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Natera from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Natera from $132.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.88.

Natera Trading Up 4.8 %

Shares of Natera stock opened at $176.27 on Friday. Natera, Inc. has a twelve month low of $64.74 and a twelve month high of $183.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $166.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $137.70. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.27 billion, a PE ratio of -100.15 and a beta of 1.65.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $361.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.95) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 63.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Natera, Inc. will post -1.56 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.