Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Cuts Stake in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lessened its position in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 32.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 170,643 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 82,680 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Natera were worth $28,828,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Guided Capital Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Natera by 0.5% during the second quarter. Guided Capital Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,135 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,219,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC increased its position in Natera by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $743,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of Natera by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 1,580 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Compound Planning Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Natera by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 1,914 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Earned Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Natera by 5.0% in the first quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,737 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Natera

In other news, Director Roy D. Baynes sold 7,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.08, for a total value of $1,710,577.44. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,359 shares in the company, valued at $4,095,525.72. This represents a 29.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Roelof Botha sold 75,000 shares of Natera stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.12, for a total value of $17,709,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,154,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $272,529,231.76. This represents a 6.10% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 308,366 shares of company stock worth $63,050,068 in the last quarter. Insiders own 5.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on NTRA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Natera from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Natera from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of Natera from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Natera from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $172.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Natera from $190.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Natera currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $220.88.

Natera Trading Up 3.3%

Shares of NASDAQ NTRA opened at $245.06 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $192.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.77. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $125.38 and a 52 week high of $241.28. The stock has a market cap of $33.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -107.01 and a beta of 1.75.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The medical research company reported ($0.64) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by ($0.25). The business had revenue of $592.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $514.55 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 25.07% and a negative net margin of 14.61%.The business’s revenue was up 34.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.26) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Natera Company 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.