Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $86.40.

NTRA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Natera from $70.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Natera from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Raymond James lowered shares of Natera from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Natera from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Natera from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th.

Natera Stock Up 2.6 %

NTRA opened at $94.04 on Tuesday. Natera has a fifty-two week low of $36.90 and a fifty-two week high of $98.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 3.96. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $88.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.20.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The medical research company reported ($0.64) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.73) by $0.09. Natera had a negative net margin of 40.16% and a negative return on equity of 62.19%. The firm had revenue of $311.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $300.38 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Natera will post -2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Natera

In related news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 6,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.13, for a total transaction of $634,774.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 227,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,206,632.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Natera news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 6,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.13, for a total transaction of $634,774.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 227,710 shares in the company, valued at $21,206,632.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total transaction of $7,265,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 117,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,676,799.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 434,943 shares of company stock worth $35,419,396 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 9.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NTRA. RiverPark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Natera during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Natera in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Natera in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Natera in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its holdings in shares of Natera by 109.3% in the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 745 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.