Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) CEO Sells $866,983.68 in Stock

Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 3,648 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.66, for a total value of $866,983.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 213,180 shares in the company, valued at $50,664,358.80. The trade was a 1.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

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

• On Tuesday, January 27th, Steven Leonard Chapman sold 2,322 shares of Natera stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.53, for a total value of $558,510.66.
• On Wednesday, January 21st, Steven Leonard Chapman sold 1,590 shares of Natera stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $235.00, for a total value of $373,650.00.
• On Tuesday, January 20th, Steven Leonard Chapman sold 71,932 shares of Natera stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.74, for a total value of $16,885,317.68.
• On Friday, January 2nd, Steven Leonard Chapman sold 3,848 shares of Natera stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.08, for a total value of $881,499.84.
• On Monday, December 1st, Steven Leonard Chapman sold 4,400 shares of Natera stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.07, for a total transaction of $1,047,508.00.
• On Monday, November 3rd, Steven Leonard Chapman sold 160,703 shares of Natera stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.96, for a total transaction of $32,134,171.88.

Natera Price Performance

NASDAQ NTRA traded down $4.45 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $231.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 947,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,043,018. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $125.38 and a 52 week high of $256.36. The stock has a market cap of $32.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -101.08 and a beta of 1.62. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $193.29.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The medical research company reported ($0.64) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by ($0.25). Natera had a negative return on equity of 25.07% and a negative net margin of 14.61%.The firm had revenue of $592.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $514.55 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.26) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 34.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Natera

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on NTRA. Citigroup initiated coverage on Natera in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $300.00 price objective for the company. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Natera to a “hold” rating and set a $172.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, October 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Natera from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Zacks Research raised Natera from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Natera from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $249.20.

Natera News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Natera this week:

• Negative Sentiment: CFO Michael Burkes Brophy sold a total of 5,064 shares across Jan. 27–29 for roughly $1.19M (transactions at ~$240.53, $237.56 and $230.40); his holdings fell by ~3% but he still holds ~59k shares. CFO Form 4
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Steven L. Chapman sold 5,970 shares across Jan. 27–28 for roughly $1.43M (avg ~$237–240); his stake decreased ~1–2% and he still owns ~213k shares. CEO Form 4
• Negative Sentiment: Other insiders (John Fesko and Solomon Moshkevich) also sold multiple tranches (combined ~3,925 shares, ~ $0.94M), each reducing holdings by under 1%. Fesko Form 4 Moshkevich Form 4

About Natera

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.