Westpac Banking Corp Makes New $2.77 Million Investment in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Westpac Banking Corp acquired a new position in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 10,214 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,773,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NTRA. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Natera by 68.3% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 4,552 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 1,847 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in Natera by 8.6% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,993 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $847,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Natera during the second quarter valued at about $298,000. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of Natera during the second quarter valued at about $558,000. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Natera Trading Up 2.2%

NASDAQ:NTRA opened at $332.03 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $274.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $229.39. Natera, Inc. has a 12 month low of $157.43 and a 12 month high of $333.56. The stock has a market cap of $47.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -244.14 and a beta of 1.51.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The medical research company reported ($0.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $661.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.74) earnings per share. Natera’s quarterly revenue was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NTRA. Wall Street Zen lowered Natera from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Natera in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $310.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Robert W. Baird set a $348.00 price objective on Natera in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Stephens raised their target price on shares of Natera from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Natera has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $319.38.

Insider Transactions at Natera

In other Natera news, insider John Fesko sold 295 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.99, for a total transaction of $79,057.05. Following the transaction, the insider owned 183,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,249,594.26. This represents a 0.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 3,076 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.39, for a total value of $819,415.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 99,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,611,561.83. This represents a 2.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 181,045 shares of company stock valued at $41,330,968. Insiders own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

Natera 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.