Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) CEO Steven Leonard Chapman Sells 3,848 Shares of Stock

Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 3,848 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.08, for a total value of $881,499.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 136,568 shares in the company, valued at $31,284,997.44. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

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

• 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 value of $1,047,508.00.
• On Monday, November 3rd, Steven Leonard Chapman sold 160,703 shares of Natera stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.96, for a total value of $32,134,171.88.
• On Tuesday, October 28th, Steven Leonard Chapman sold 3,680 shares of Natera stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.46, for a total value of $704,572.80.
• On Monday, October 27th, Steven Leonard Chapman sold 2,335 shares of Natera stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.32, for a total transaction of $449,067.20.
• On Tuesday, October 21st, Steven Leonard Chapman sold 1,603 shares of Natera stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.95, for a total transaction of $301,283.85.

Natera Stock Performance

Natera stock opened at $248.74 on Wednesday. Natera, Inc. has a twelve month low of $125.38 and a twelve month high of $249.15. The firm has a market cap of $34.41 billion, a PE ratio of -108.62 and a beta of 1.62. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $224.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.78.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Natera

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTRA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 282,826 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,003,129 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 72,087 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 727,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Natera by 7.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,552,725 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $430,640,000 after acquiring an additional 166,768 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NTRA. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Natera from $190.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Natera from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Natera from $218.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Natera in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.29.

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.