Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Takes $518,000 Position in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,084 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $518,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 13.6% in the second quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 4,460,557 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $483,034,000 after purchasing an additional 532,874 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Natera by 257.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 651,523 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $70,553,000 after purchasing an additional 469,327 shares during the period. PointState Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of Natera by 112.0% in the 3rd quarter. PointState Capital LP now owns 782,538 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $99,343,000 after purchasing an additional 413,468 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Natera by 53.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 958,383 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $103,783,000 after buying an additional 334,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Natera by 311.9% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 406,653 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $44,036,000 after purchasing an additional 307,920 shares in the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NTRA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Natera from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Natera from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Natera from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on Natera from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Craig Hallum boosted their price target on Natera from $121.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Natera has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $140.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Roelof Botha sold 87,473 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,224,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $207,135,977.44. This represents a 6.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 1,196 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 110,695 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,085,255.95. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,976 shares of company stock worth $21,119,238 in the last 90 days. 7.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Natera Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NTRA traded down $3.85 on Monday, reaching $167.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,048,551 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,335,895. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Natera, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.56 and a twelve month high of $175.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $140.16 and a 200-day moving average of $122.63.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.57) by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $439.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $361.43 million. Natera had a negative net margin of 14.01% and a negative return on equity of 26.23%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 63.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.95) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -1.61 EPS 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.