Capstone Investment Advisors LLC Sells 31,519,195 Shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Capstone Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA - Free Report) by 100.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,321 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 31,519,195 shares during the period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Natera were worth $367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NTRA. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Natera by 134.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,742,428 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,067,327,000 after buying an additional 3,871,862 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Natera by 43.7% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,701,425 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,060,836,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036,396 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Natera in the 4th quarter valued at about $224,040,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Natera in the 4th quarter valued at about $146,419,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Natera by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,316,470 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,949,697,000 after purchasing an additional 879,463 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 issued reports on NTRA. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Natera from $176.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Natera in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Natera from $200.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Natera from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Natera from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $175.76.

Insider Activity at Natera

In other news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 87,272 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.40, for a total value of $12,514,804.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 203,354 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,160,963.60. This represents a 30.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Burkes Brophy sold 2,562 shares of Natera stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.41, for a total transaction of $354,606.42. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,457,844.37. This represents a 3.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 153,099 shares of company stock valued at $22,136,941 in the last quarter. Insiders own 7.60% of the company's stock.

Natera Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Natera stock opened at $155.50 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.23, a current ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Natera, Inc. has a 12-month low of $92.14 and a 12-month high of $183.00. The company has a market capitalization of $21.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -88.35 and a beta of 1.79. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $146.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.85.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The medical research company reported ($0.41) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.42) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $476.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $447.91 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 26.23% and a negative net margin of 14.01%. On average, analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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