Insider Selling: Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) Insider Sells 3,594 Shares of Stock

Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) insider John Fesko sold 3,594 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.02, for a total value of $830,285.88. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 178,081 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,140,272.62. This trade represents a 1.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

John Fesko also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, January 28th, John Fesko sold 928 shares of Natera stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.66, for a total value of $220,548.48.
• On Tuesday, January 27th, John Fesko sold 784 shares of Natera stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.53, for a total value of $188,575.52.
• On Wednesday, January 21st, John Fesko sold 339 shares of Natera stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.00, for a total value of $79,665.00.
• On Tuesday, January 20th, John Fesko sold 17,806 shares of Natera stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.74, for a total value of $4,179,780.44.

Natera Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTRA traded down $22.07 on Wednesday, reaching $205.61. 2,452,176 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,059,726. The firm has a market cap of $28.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -89.79 and a beta of 1.64. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $234.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $195.74. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $125.38 and a 52 week high of $256.36.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The medical research company reported ($0.64) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by ($0.25). The business had revenue of $592.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $514.55 million. Natera had a negative net margin of 14.61% and a negative return on equity of 25.07%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 34.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.26) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Natera

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NTRA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Natera by 2.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,676,653 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,141,594,000 after purchasing an additional 282,826 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Natera by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,628,914 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,871,914,000 after buying an additional 1,003,129 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,389,599 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $545,624,000 after buying an additional 72,087 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 37.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,665,013 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $428,987,000 after buying an additional 727,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Natera by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,552,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $430,640,000 after buying an additional 166,768 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NTRA. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Natera in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Guggenheim raised their target price on Natera from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Natera from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Zacks Research raised shares of Natera from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Natera from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. One equities research 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Natera has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.20.

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.