National Pension Service Cuts Stock Position in Natera, Inc. $NTRA

National Pension Service cut its stake in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 225,234 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 5,245 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Natera were worth $61,140,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Natera by 28,373.5% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 56,324,789 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $15,289,364,000 after buying an additional 56,126,974 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Natera by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 12,854,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,944,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225,420 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Natera during the second quarter worth about $2,962,770,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Natera by 94.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,976,325 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,140,026,000 after acquiring an additional 2,420,263 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Natera by 2.2% during the third 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. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 15,160 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.89, for a total transaction of $4,955,652.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 110,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,238,698.51. This trade represents a 12.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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. Also, CEO Steven Chapman sold 3,580 shares of Natera stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.07, for a total value of $909,570.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,162,350.11. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. Insiders sold a total of 71,206 shares of company stock worth $19,944,069 in the last three months. Company insiders own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Leerink Partners set a $330.00 price objective on Natera in a report on Friday, August 7th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Natera from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $355.00 price target on shares of Natera in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Natera from $220.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $340.00 price objective on shares of Natera in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Natera has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $330.83.

Natera Stock Performance

NTRA opened at $328.93 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $47.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -241.86 and a beta of 1.54. Natera, Inc. has a one year low of $157.43 and a one year high of $343.18. The business’s fifty day moving average is $297.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $241.66.

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

Natera Profile

Natera, Inc is a diagnostics company that develops and commercializes molecular testing services based on cell-free DNA and other genomic technologies. The company focuses on reproductive health, oncology and organ health, providing tests intended to support screening, diagnosis, treatment planning and disease monitoring.

Its reproductive health portfolio includes Panorama, a noninvasive prenatal test that screens for certain chromosomal conditions, and Horizon, a carrier screening test.