PointState Capital LP Acquires New Holdings in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

PointState Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 258,012 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,037,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NTRA. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Natera during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,962,770,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Natera in the second quarter valued at about $5,117,000. Abbot Financial Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Natera in the second quarter valued at about $1,537,000. Eagle Health Investments LP bought a new stake in Natera during the second quarter worth about $4,302,000. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its holdings in Natera by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 438,857 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $100,538,000 after acquiring an additional 71,355 shares in the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTRA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $340.00 price target on shares of Natera in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Natera in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Stephens raised their target price on shares of Natera from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Natera from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Natera in a report on Friday, June 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $245.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $319.38.

Natera Stock Performance

Natera stock opened at $338.45 on Thursday. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $157.43 and a 52 week high of $340.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -248.86 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $281.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $232.01.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 11.38% and a negative net margin of 7.11%.The firm had revenue of $752.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $661.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.74) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Natera

In other Natera news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 41,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.03, for a total transaction of $9,089,637.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 108,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,035,465.29. This trade represents a 27.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 11,000 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.21, for a total transaction of $2,389,310.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,343,009.43. This trade represents a 64.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 177,955 shares of company stock worth $40,704,193 in the last three months. 5.05% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.