Brokerages Set Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) Target Price at $140.59

Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $140.59.

Several brokerages have commented on NTRA. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Natera from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of Natera from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Craig Hallum boosted their price target on shares of Natera from $121.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Natera from $120.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Leerink Partners upped their target price on shares of Natera from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th.

Natera Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTRA opened at $166.45 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 4.23 and a current ratio of 4.39. The stock has a market cap of $21.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -94.57 and a beta of 1.63. Natera has a fifty-two week low of $55.56 and a fifty-two week high of $175.63. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $141.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $123.46.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.57) by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $439.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $361.43 million. Natera had a negative net margin of 14.01% and a negative return on equity of 26.23%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.95) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Natera will post -1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 9,682 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.98, for a total value of $1,548,926.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,704 shares in the company, valued at $1,552,445.92. This represents a 49.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Roelof Botha sold 87,473 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.12, for a total transaction of $14,793,433.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,224,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,135,977.44. This represents a 6.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 133,976 shares of company stock worth $21,119,238 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Natera in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 148.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 318 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 50.0% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 324 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Natera by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 372 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in Natera in the 3rd quarter valued at $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

About Natera

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.