Insider Selling: Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) Insider Sells 80,000 Shares of Stock

Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 80,000 shares of Natera stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.82, for a total transaction of $7,265,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 117,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,676,799.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Natera Price Performance

NTRA traded up $0.01 on Wednesday, hitting $90.33. 694,054 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,470,209. Natera, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.90 and a fifty-two week high of $98.82. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 3.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $85.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.41. The stock has a market cap of $10.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.83 and a beta of 1.37.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The medical research company reported ($0.64) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.73) by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $311.11 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $300.38 million. Natera had a negative net margin of 40.16% and a negative return on equity of 62.19%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Natera, Inc. will post -2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on NTRA shares. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price on shares of Natera in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Craig Hallum began coverage on shares of Natera in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $117.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James cut shares of Natera from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $68.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Natera from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Natera from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.40.

Institutional Trading of Natera

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NTRA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Natera by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,971,895 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $687,280,000 after purchasing an additional 588,147 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Natera by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,556,792 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $334,388,000 after buying an additional 67,102 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Natera by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,409,372 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $120,828,000 after purchasing an additional 577,106 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Natera by 55.5% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,072,466 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $149,506,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,964 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kynam Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Natera by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Kynam Capital Management LP now owns 3,003,668 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $132,912,000 after buying an additional 103,668 shares during the period. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Natera

Natera, Inc, a diagnostics company, develops and commercializes molecular testing services worldwide. Its products include Panorama, a non-invasive prenatal test that screens for chromosomal abnormalities of a fetus, as well as in twin pregnancies; Horizon carrier screening test for individuals and couples determine if they are carriers of genetic variations that cause certain genetic conditions; Vistara single-gene NIPT screens for 25 single-gene disorders that cause severe skeletal, cardiac, and neurological conditions; Spectrum, preimplantation genetic tests for couples undergoing IVF; Anora that analyzes miscarriage tissue from women; Empower, a hereditary cancer screening test; and non-invasive prenatal paternity product, which allows a couple to establish paternity without waiting for the child to be born.