D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. bought a new stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 12,842 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,486,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new stake in shares of Natera during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Natera in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Reflection Asset Management acquired a new stake in Natera in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Palladiem LLC bought a new position in Natera during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust boosted its stake in Natera by 103.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust now owns 163 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NTRA shares. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Natera from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $355.00 price target on shares of Natera in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Natera from $315.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Natera from $220.00 to $284.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Natera from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $319.38.

Natera Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NTRA stock opened at $324.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $46.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -238.85 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a 50 day moving average of $271.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $228.67. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $157.43 and a 52 week high of $333.56.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The medical research company reported ($0.47) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.49) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $752.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $661.24 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 11.38% and a negative net margin of 7.11%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.74) EPS. Analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -1.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 3,410 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.58, for a total transaction of $905,627.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 129,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,264,866.02. The trade was a 2.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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, Director Herm Rosenman sold 16,530 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $4,132,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,062,500. This represents a 79.55% 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. Insiders sold 181,045 shares of company stock worth $41,330,968 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

About Natera

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.