Merit Financial Group LLC Makes New $552,000 Investment in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 3,487 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $552,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in Natera in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,020,000. Rockingstone Advisors LLC bought a new position in Natera during the fourth quarter worth $2,584,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Natera by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 8,794 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,392,000 after buying an additional 961 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Natera by 68.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 325,155 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $51,472,000 after acquiring an additional 132,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Natera by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,865 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,087,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares during the period. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NTRA. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Natera from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Natera from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Natera from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on shares of Natera from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Natera in a research note on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $162.94.

Natera Stock Performance

Shares of Natera stock opened at $171.82 on Friday. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.96 and a 52 week high of $183.00. The company has a quick ratio of 4.23, a current ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $165.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $135.41. The company has a market cap of $22.68 billion, a PE ratio of -97.63 and a beta of 1.65.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.57) by $0.31. The business had revenue of $439.80 million during 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%. Natera’s quarterly revenue was up 63.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.95) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Natera, Inc. will post -1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 3,960 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.21, for a total value of $468,111.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 189,762 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,431,766.02. This represents a 2.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 1,196 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.21, for a total value of $141,379.16. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 110,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,085,255.95. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 224,133 shares of company stock worth $36,830,652 over the last quarter. 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.