Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) Price Target Raised to $185.00

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) had its price target increased by Morgan Stanley from $176.00 to $185.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the medical research company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on NTRA. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Natera from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered Natera from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Natera from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Natera from $183.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Natera in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.56.

Natera Price Performance

Shares of Natera stock opened at $140.66 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $19.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -79.92 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 4.23 and a current ratio of 4.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $166.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $147.58. Natera has a one year low of $83.13 and a one year high of $183.00.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The medical research company reported ($0.41) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.42) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $476.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $447.91 million. Natera had a negative net margin of 14.01% and a negative return on equity of 26.23%. Equities analysts expect that Natera will post -1.49 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Natera news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 78,553 shares of Natera stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.97, for a total value of $12,958,888.41. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 267,629 shares in the company, valued at $44,150,756.13. The trade was a 22.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Fesko sold 663 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.77, for a total transaction of $117,861.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 156,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,739,941.88. This represents a 0.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 301,571 shares of company stock valued at $48,322,810 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Natera

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Natera by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,316,470 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,949,697,000 after purchasing an additional 879,463 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Natera by 134.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,742,428 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,067,327,000 after buying an additional 3,871,862 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Natera by 43.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Natera by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,240,041 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $512,898,000 after buying an additional 439,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Natera by 3.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,482,818 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $315,194,000 after buying an additional 85,236 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.