Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires 5,882 Shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 168.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,369 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 5,882 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Natera were worth $1,325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NTRA. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Natera by 134.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,742,428 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,067,327,000 after buying an additional 3,871,862 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Natera by 43.7% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,701,425 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,060,836,000 after buying an additional 2,036,396 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Natera in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $224,040,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Natera in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $146,419,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Natera by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,316,470 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,949,697,000 after buying an additional 879,463 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on NTRA shares. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Natera in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $251.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Natera from $176.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Natera from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Natera from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 17th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating on shares of Natera in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Natera presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $184.63.

Natera Stock Performance

Shares of NTRA stock opened at $163.76 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $151.77 and a 200 day moving average of $158.67. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $92.14 and a 52 week high of $183.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -93.05 and a beta of 1.74. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The medical research company reported ($0.50) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.59) by $0.09. The business had revenue of $501.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $446.68 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 26.23% and a negative net margin of 14.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.56) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Natera

In other Natera news, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.69, for a total value of $590,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,433,183.76. The trade was a 29.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.07, for a total value of $471,210.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 133,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,922,509.35. This represents a 2.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 68,275 shares of company stock valued at $10,075,783 in the last quarter. 7.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Natera Company Profile

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.