Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) Price Target Raised to $176.00

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) had its price objective lifted by Morgan Stanley from $132.00 to $176.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the medical research company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Natera from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Craig Hallum increased their price target on Natera from $121.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on Natera from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Natera from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Natera from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.65.

Natera Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of NTRA opened at $146.06 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Natera has a 52-week low of $52.01 and a 52-week high of $167.79. The business’s fifty day moving average is $127.38 and its 200-day moving average is $115.61.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.57) by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $439.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $361.43 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 26.23% and a negative net margin of 14.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.95) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Natera will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 1,196 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.21, for a total transaction of $141,379.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 110,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,085,255.95. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathan Sheena sold 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.57, for a total value of $344,439.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 284,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,324,409.37. This trade represents a 0.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,821 shares of company stock valued at $4,776,878 over the last quarter. Insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Natera

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Natera by 15.1% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 74,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,810,000 after buying an additional 9,781 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Natera during the first quarter valued at about $223,000. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Natera during the first quarter worth about $788,000. M&G Plc bought a new position in Natera in the 1st quarter valued at about $8,199,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Natera by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,044,743 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,010,152,000 after purchasing an additional 72,848 shares in the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.