HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 4,671 Shares of Natera, Inc. $NTRA

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 34.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,040 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 4,671 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Natera were worth $1,455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Natera by 95.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 225 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Natera in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Hilltop National Bank increased its position in shares of Natera by 59.8% during the third quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 310 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Natera by 256.8% during the second quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 314 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Natera by 23.1% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Natera Stock Performance

NASDAQ NTRA opened at $208.04 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.78 billion, a PE ratio of -135.97 and a beta of 1.65. Natera, Inc. has a 52-week low of $125.38 and a 52-week high of $256.36. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $226.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $204.17.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.46) by $0.81. Natera had a negative net margin of 9.03% and a negative return on equity of 16.71%. The firm had revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $600.68 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.41) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on NTRA. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Natera from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Natera in a research report on Monday, January 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Natera from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Zacks Research upgraded Natera from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $254.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at Natera

In other news, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 23,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.74, for a total transaction of $5,447,141.70. Following the transaction, the insider owned 144,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,035,422.08. This represents a 13.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Burkes Brophy sold 37,175 shares of Natera stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.54, for a total value of $9,016,424.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 64,123 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,552,392.42. This trade represents a 36.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 360,719 shares of company stock valued at $84,194,824 in the last quarter. Insiders own 5.63% of the company’s stock.

Key Natera News

Here are the key news stories impacting Natera this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly beat — Natera reported Q4 revenue of $665.5M and GAAP EPS of $0.35, well ahead of street estimates (revenue ~$600.7M, EPS loss consensus). The beat supports near-term growth expectations and underpins the stock’s recent strength. Natera Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Favorable clinical data — New Signatera MRD data presented at ASCO GU highlight potential utility across genitourinary cancers (including bladder preservation), which may expand clinical adoption and long-term revenue for Natera’s oncology franchise. Signatera MRD Data at ASCO GU
• Positive Sentiment: Trial results — Natera reported results from the SINERGY trial, another clinical datapoint that could support commercial adoption of its assays. Natera Announces Results From the SINERGY Trial
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades/targets — Robert W. Baird raised its price target to $257 (outperform) and Wells Fargo raised its target to $215 (equal weight), signaling some sell-side confidence in upside from current levels. Benzinga – Analyst Price Target Changes
• Neutral Sentiment: Full-year revenue guidance roughly in line with consensus — Management issued FY2026 revenue guidance (roughly $2.6B–$2.7B), which appears consistent with street expectations and reduces upside surprise potential from guidance alone. (See Q4 release for guidance details.) Natera Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst consensus — Aggregated analyst coverage remains constructive (average “Moderate Buy”), which supports medium-term expectations but doesn’t preclude short-term volatility. Analyst Average Rating
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and fundamentals concerns — Despite the beat, Natera still shows negative net margin and negative return on equity on a GAAP basis; combined with a high market capitalization and a recent run-up toward 52-week highs, investors may be taking profits. MarketBeat Q4 Coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Heavy intraday volume and selling pressure — Trading volume was well above average, consistent with a distribution day where some holders trimmed positions after the company’s strong quarter; that drove the stock lower despite the positives. (See intraday volume and price action for context.)

Natera Profile

Natera is a global diagnostics company that develops and commercializes cell-free DNA and other genetic testing technologies for clinical applications. The company focuses on three principal areas: reproductive health (including non-invasive prenatal testing and carrier screening), oncology (tumor-informed assays for minimal residual disease and recurrence monitoring), and organ transplantation (cell-free DNA tests to detect allograft injury). Natera combines laboratory testing, proprietary bioinformatics, and clinical reporting to deliver personalized genetic information to clinicians and patients.

Key product offerings include Panorama, a non-invasive prenatal test that screens for fetal chromosomal abnormalities and select single-gene conditions; Horizon carrier screening for inherited conditions; Signatera, a personalized, tumor-informed assay used for detecting minimal residual disease and monitoring treatment response in cancer patients; and Prospera, a donor-derived cell-free DNA test used to assess the risk of organ rejection.