Insider Selling: Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) CEO Sells $545,041.02 in Stock

Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) CEO Steven Chapman sold 1,698 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.99, for a total transaction of $545,041.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 98,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,520,897.01. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Steven Leonard Chapman also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, August 3rd, Steven Chapman sold 3,076 shares of Natera stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.39, for a total transaction of $819,415.64.
• On Tuesday, July 28th, Steven Chapman sold 3,580 shares of Natera stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.07, for a total transaction of $909,570.60.
• On Monday, July 27th, Steven Chapman sold 2,190 shares of Natera stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.49, for a total transaction of $570,473.10.

Natera Price Performance

Shares of NTRA stock traded up $2.50 on Thursday, hitting $327.67. 708,176 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,439,570. The firm has a market cap of $47.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -240.93 and a beta of 1.54. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $157.43 and a 52 week high of $343.18. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $291.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $237.00.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The medical research company reported ($0.47) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.49) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $752.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $661.24 million. Natera had a negative net margin of 7.11% and a negative return on equity of 11.38%. Natera’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.74) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.02 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTRA. Trust Co. of Vermont purchased a new position in shares of Natera during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Reflection Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Natera in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Natera in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Palladiem LLC bought a new position in Natera during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC bought a new position in Natera during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Natera in a research note on Monday, July 6th. UBS Group set a $260.00 target price on Natera in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Natera in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Natera from $315.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $355.00 price objective on shares of Natera in a report on Monday, August 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $319.38.

Natera Company 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.