Bamco Inc. NY Acquires 17,400 Shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Bamco Inc. NY increased its position in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 73.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 41,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,400 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY’s holdings in Natera were worth $3,750,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Natera during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Natera during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lifted its position in Natera by 109.3% in the 4th quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 745 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI lifted its position in Natera by 47.8% in the 1st quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 538 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its position in Natera by 41.8% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,867 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Natera

In related news, insider Daniel Rabinowitz sold 30,000 shares of Natera stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.59, for a total value of $3,137,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 204,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,388,132.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 6,779 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.08, for a total transaction of $725,895.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 219,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,499,348.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel Rabinowitz sold 30,000 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.59, for a total transaction of $3,137,700.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 204,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,388,132.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 112,008 shares of company stock worth $12,018,667 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on NTRA. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Natera from $123.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Natera from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. BTIG Research raised their price objective on Natera from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Natera from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Craig Hallum assumed coverage on Natera in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $117.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.19.

Natera Price Performance

Natera stock traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $102.52. The company had a trading volume of 425,108 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,329,332. The company has a market capitalization of $12.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.73 and a beta of 1.48. Natera, Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.90 and a 12-month high of $117.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 4.12 and a quick ratio of 3.98.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The medical research company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.72) by $0.16. The business had revenue of $367.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.31 million. Natera had a negative net margin of 30.24% and a negative return on equity of 49.72%. The business’s revenue was up 52.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.23) EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Natera, Inc. will post -2.43 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.