Jennison Associates LLC Buys 15,710 Shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 2.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 771,962 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,710 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Natera were worth $98,001,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NTRA. Commerce Bank bought a new stake in shares of Natera in the third quarter valued at approximately $286,000. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in Natera by 7.6% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 9,241 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 652 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Natera by 7,765.9% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,225 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $409,000 after buying an additional 3,184 shares in the last quarter. First Turn Management LLC acquired a new position in Natera during the third quarter worth $19,760,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Natera by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 227,900 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $28,932,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Natera from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Natera from $120.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Natera from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Natera from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Leerink Partners increased their price objective on shares of Natera from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Natera has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.59.

Insider Activity at Natera

In related news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 4,728 shares of Natera stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.41, for a total transaction of $692,226.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 185,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,090,827.94. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 2,212 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.53, for a total value of $350,668.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,073,262.58. The trade was a 10.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,821 shares of company stock valued at $4,776,878 over the last quarter. 7.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Natera Stock Up 3.6 %

Shares of NTRA opened at $167.88 on Thursday. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.62 and a 52 week high of $169.71. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.00. 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 firm has a market cap of $22.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -95.39 and a beta of 1.53.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.57) by $0.31. The business had revenue of $439.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $361.43 million. Natera had a negative net margin of 14.01% and a negative return on equity of 26.23%. The business’s revenue was up 63.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.95) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share 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.