Hodges Capital Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 2,350 Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Hodges Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,350 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $372,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTRA. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Natera by 104.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 190 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Natera by 148.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 318 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Natera by 345.8% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 214 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in Natera by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 372 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Natera by 32.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 430 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. 99.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTRA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Natera from $120.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Leerink Partners lifted their target price on shares of Natera from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Natera from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Natera from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Natera from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $165.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Roelof Botha sold 87,473 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.12, for a total value of $14,793,433.76. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,224,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,135,977.44. This represents a 6.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Fesko sold 663 shares of Natera stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.77, for a total transaction of $117,861.51. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 312,394 shares of company stock worth $52,333,520. Company insiders own 7.60% of the company's stock.

Natera Stock Performance

NTRA traded down $2.32 during trading on Friday, reaching $172.82. 857,965 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,331,850. The company has a market capitalization of $22.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -98.19 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a quick ratio of 4.23, a current ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $167.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $140.02. Natera, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.33 and a fifty-two week high of $183.00.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.57) by $0.31. Natera had a negative net margin of 14.01% and a negative return on equity of 26.23%. The business had revenue of $439.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $361.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.95) EPS. The firm's revenue was up 63.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Natera, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Natera Profile

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.