Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) Stock Price Down 3.1% on Insider Selling

Shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) traded down 3.1% during trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $163.48 and last traded at $164.17. 146,118 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 1,341,569 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.36.

Specifically, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 9,682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.98, for a total transaction of $1,548,926.36. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,704 shares in the company, valued at $1,552,445.92. This represents a 49.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on NTRA. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Natera from $132.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Natera in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Natera from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Natera from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Natera from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.59.

Natera Trading Down 1.2 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $22.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -95.03 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $131.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $117.85.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.57) by $0.31. Natera had a negative net margin of 14.01% and a negative return on equity of 26.23%. The business had revenue of $439.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $361.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.95) earnings per share. Natera’s revenue was up 63.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTRA. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Natera by 1,073.1% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 65,730 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,118,000 after purchasing an additional 60,127 shares in the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Natera by 37.9% in the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 41,302 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,243,000 after buying an additional 11,362 shares in the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft acquired a new stake in Natera in the second quarter valued at approximately $478,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Natera during the first quarter worth $707,000. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 50.6% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 13,622 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,475,000 after buying an additional 4,575 shares in the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is owned by 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.