Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Monday after Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on the stock from $160.00 to $200.00. The stock had previously closed at $175.00, but opened at $182.39. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Natera shares last traded at $171.01, with a volume of 265,199 shares trading hands.

NTRA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Natera from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Craig Hallum boosted their price target on Natera from $121.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Natera from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Natera from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Natera from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Natera news, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 256 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,434,752.37. This trade represents a 0.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 1,709 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.76, for a total value of $206,378.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 194,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,501,707.40. This represents a 0.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 123,409 shares of company stock worth $20,045,631. 7.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Natera

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Natera during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Quarry LP raised its position in Natera by 148.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 318 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in 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 buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Natera by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 372 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Natera Stock Down 2.1 %

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 $21.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -94.18 and a beta of 1.65. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $161.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $132.86.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.57) by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $439.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 63.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.95) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Natera, Inc. will post -1.61 earnings per share 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.