Insider Selling: Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) Insider Sells $59,992.56 in Stock

Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) insider John Fesko sold 291 shares of Natera stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.16, for a total value of $59,992.56. Following the transaction, the insider owned 187,220 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,597,275.20. The trade was a 0.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

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

• On Monday, April 27th, John Fesko sold 1,688 shares of Natera stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.10, for a total value of $344,520.80.
• On Tuesday, March 10th, John Fesko sold 707 shares of Natera stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.13, for a total value of $144,319.91.

Natera Stock Performance

Shares of Natera stock opened at $219.82 on Friday. Natera, Inc. has a one year low of $131.81 and a one year high of $256.36. The company has a market cap of $31.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -143.67 and a beta of 1.57. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $202.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $215.02.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The medical research company reported ($0.60) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by ($0.07). Natera had a negative return on equity of 15.28% and a negative net margin of 9.03%.The company had revenue of $696.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $617.10 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.50) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 38.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Natera, Inc. will post -1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Natera

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NTRA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Natera by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 12,854,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,944,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,420 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Natera by 94.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,976,325 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,140,026,000 after purchasing an additional 2,420,263 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Natera by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,389,599 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $545,624,000 after purchasing an additional 72,087 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Natera by 37.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,665,013 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $428,987,000 after purchasing an additional 727,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coatue Management LLC grew its stake in Natera by 1,446.1% during the 4th quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 2,633,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $603,270,000 after purchasing an additional 2,463,008 shares in the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Natera from $265.00 to $250.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised Natera from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Natera in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Natera from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Natera currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.47.

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.