Sanctuary Advisors LLC Makes New $4.96 Million Investment in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 18,285 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,963,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Horizon Investments LLC grew its stake in Natera by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 244 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Natera by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $181,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Natera by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 982 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $196,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Natera by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 1,804 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, Alamea Verwaltungs GmbH boosted its position in shares of Natera by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Alamea Verwaltungs GmbH now owns 2,229 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $515,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on NTRA shares. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Natera in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $348.00 price objective on Natera in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Natera from $220.00 to $284.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Natera in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $310.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $355.00 target price on shares of Natera in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Natera currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $319.38.

Natera Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTRA opened at $327.72 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -240.97 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $276.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.09. Natera, Inc. has a 52-week low of $157.43 and a 52-week high of $333.56.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The medical research company reported ($0.47) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.49) by $0.02. Natera had a negative net margin of 7.11% and a negative return on equity of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $752.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $661.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.74) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Michael Burkes Brophy sold 478 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.22, for a total transaction of $131,077.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 51,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,159,898.14. This trade represents a 0.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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, insider John Fesko sold 295 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.99, for a total transaction of $79,057.05. Following the sale, the insider owned 183,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,249,594.26. This trade represents a 0.16% decrease in their position. 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 177,955 shares of company stock valued at $40,704,193. 5.05% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Natera

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.