Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning.

NTRA has been the subject of several other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Natera from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Craig Hallum raised their target price on Natera from $121.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Natera in a report on Friday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Natera from $125.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Natera from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.65.

Natera Trading Down 3.3 %

NTRA opened at $146.06 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $127.38 and a 200-day moving average of $115.61. Natera has a 12-month low of $52.01 and a 12-month high of $167.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 4.01 and a current ratio of 4.39.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.57) by $0.31. Natera had a negative return on equity of 26.23% and a negative net margin of 14.01%. The business had revenue of $439.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $361.43 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.95) earnings per share. Natera’s quarterly revenue was up 63.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Natera will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Natera news, insider Jonathan Sheena sold 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.57, for a total transaction of $344,439.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 284,741 shares in the company, valued at $36,324,409.37. This trade represents a 0.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 4,728 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.41, for a total transaction of $692,226.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 185,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,090,827.94. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,821 shares of company stock valued at $4,776,878 over the last three months. 7.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Natera by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,044,743 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,010,152,000 after acquiring an additional 72,848 shares during the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Natera by 13.6% in the second quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 4,460,557 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $483,034,000 after acquiring an additional 532,874 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Natera by 205.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,800,263 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $355,493,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883,481 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Natera by 3.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,482,818 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $315,194,000 after acquiring an additional 85,236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Natera by 7.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,090,480 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $265,747,000 after acquiring an additional 143,825 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Natera Company Profile

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.