Apollon Wealth Management LLC Acquires Shares of 2,123 Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,123 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in Natera by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 372 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Natera by 32.7% in the third 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. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Natera by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,646 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Natera by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 2,721 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Natera by 2.1% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 7,353 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $933,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Natera Trading Up 5.0 %

NTRA opened at $153.42 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.01, a current ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Natera, Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.31 and a twelve month high of $167.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -87.17 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $127.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $115.76.

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. The company had revenue of $439.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $361.43 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 26.23% and a negative net margin of 14.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.95) EPS. Analysts predict that Natera, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Natera

In other news, Director Rowan E. Chapman sold 2,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.68, for a total transaction of $333,755.52. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,017,481.92. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathan Sheena sold 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.57, for a total transaction of $344,439.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 284,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,324,409.37. The trade was a 0.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,821 shares of company stock worth $4,776,878 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Natera from $132.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Natera from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Leerink Partners raised their price objective on Natera from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Natera from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Natera from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Natera presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.59.

Natera 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.