Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) Shares Bought by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA - Free Report) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,703,615 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 112,825 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 1.42% of Natera worth $106,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RiverPark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Natera in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Natera in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Natera in the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Natera from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Natera from $123.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Natera from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $120.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James lowered shares of Natera from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Natera from $70.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Natera presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $97.80.

Insider Transactions at Natera

In other news, Director Herm Rosenman sold 93,901 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.37, for a total transaction of $6,513,912.37. Following the transaction, the director now owns 61,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,279,088.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Daniel Rabinowitz sold 35,307 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.09, for a total transaction of $2,651,202.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 204,218 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,334,729.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Herm Rosenman sold 93,901 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.37, for a total transaction of $6,513,912.37. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 61,685 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,279,088.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 410,750 shares of company stock worth $35,002,520 in the last 90 days. 7.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Natera Stock Down 1.9 %

Natera stock traded down $1.96 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $103.33. The company had a trading volume of 1,678,729 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,449,484. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.88 and a beta of 1.38. 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 firm's fifty day moving average is $92.32 and its 200-day moving average is $71.70. Natera, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.90 and a fifty-two week high of $108.32.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The medical research company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.72) by $0.16. Natera had a negative net margin of 30.24% and a negative return on equity of 51.09%. The firm had revenue of $367.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($1.23) EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 52.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -2.35 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.

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