JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd Takes Position in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 20,900 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,997,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NTRA. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Natera by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,560 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $221,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Natera by 68.3% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,552 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in shares of Natera by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,993 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $847,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Natera during the 2nd quarter valued at about $298,000. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Natera during the 2nd quarter valued at about $558,000. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Michael Burkes Brophy sold 3,070 shares of Natera stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.74, for a total transaction of $594,781.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 58,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,293,298.34. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 5,838 shares of Natera stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.14, for a total transaction of $1,191,769.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 150,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,777,983.66. This represents a 3.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,356 shares of company stock valued at $8,374,584. Company insiders own 5.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NTRA. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Natera in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Natera from $265.00 to $250.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. William Blair began coverage on shares of Natera in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Natera from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $256.60.

Natera Stock Up 5.3%

Shares of NTRA stock opened at $213.94 on Friday. Natera, Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.81 and a 12-month high of $256.36. The company has a market capitalization of $30.64 billion, a P/E ratio of -131.25 and a beta of 1.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $201.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $215.63.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.46) by $0.81. Natera had a negative net margin of 9.05% and a negative return on equity of 14.74%. The firm had revenue of $665.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $600.68 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.41) 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 is a global diagnostics company that develops and commercializes cell-free DNA and other genetic testing technologies for clinical applications. The company focuses on three principal areas: reproductive health (including non-invasive prenatal testing and carrier screening), oncology (tumor-informed assays for minimal residual disease and recurrence monitoring), and organ transplantation (cell-free DNA tests to detect allograft injury). Natera combines laboratory testing, proprietary bioinformatics, and clinical reporting to deliver personalized genetic information to clinicians and patients.

Key product offerings include Panorama, a non-invasive prenatal test that screens for fetal chromosomal abnormalities and select single-gene conditions; Horizon carrier screening for inherited conditions; Signatera, a personalized, tumor-informed assay used for detecting minimal residual disease and monitoring treatment response in cancer patients; and Prospera, a donor-derived cell-free DNA test used to assess the risk of organ rejection.