Hodges Capital Management Inc. Invests $372,000 in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Hodges Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,350 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NTRA. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Natera by 104.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 190 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its position in Natera by 148.4% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 318 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Natera by 345.8% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 34.3% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 372 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Natera by 32.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 430 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Leerink Partners lifted their target price on Natera from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Natera from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Natera from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Craig Hallum boosted their price target on Natera from $121.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Natera from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $165.88.

Insider Activity at Natera

In other news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 4,728 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.41, for a total value of $692,226.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 185,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,090,827.94. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 2,212 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.53, for a total transaction of $350,668.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,073,262.58. The trade was a 10.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 268,229 shares of company stock valued at $44,521,025 over the last 90 days. 7.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Natera Stock Performance

Shares of NTRA stock opened at $176.56 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $23.31 billion, a PE ratio of -100.32 and a beta of 1.66. Natera, Inc. has a 52-week low of $66.68 and a 52-week high of $183.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $167.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $139.03. The company has a quick ratio of 4.23, a current ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.57) by $0.31. Natera had a negative return on equity of 26.23% and a negative net margin of 14.01%. The company had revenue of $439.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $361.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.95) EPS. Natera’s revenue was up 63.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

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.