John Fesko Sells 1,688 Shares of Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) Stock

Key Points

• John Fesko sold 1,688 shares of Natera on April 27 at an average price of $204.10 (≈$344,520), executing a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan to cover tax withholding from vested equity and reducing his holding to 187,511 shares (a 0.89% cut).
• Natera beat expectations last quarter, reporting $0.35 EPS versus a consensus loss of ($0.46) and revenue of $665.5M vs. $600.68M expected, and analysts maintain a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $253.47.
• NTRA trades around $194.75 (down $5.42), has a market cap of $27.71B and a 52-week range of $131.81–$256.36, and is heavily institutionally owned (~99.9%) with large stake increases from firms including Coatue, Wellington and JPMorgan.

Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA - Get Free Report) insider John Fesko sold 1,688 shares of Natera stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.10, for a total value of $344,520.80. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 187,511 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,270,995.10. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

John Fesko also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, March 10th, John Fesko sold 707 shares of Natera stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.13, for a total value of $144,319.91.
• On Tuesday, February 3rd, John Fesko sold 3,594 shares of Natera stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.02, for a total value of $830,285.88.

Natera Price Performance

NTRA stock traded down $5.42 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $194.75. 963,644 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,219,699. The company has a market capitalization of $27.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -127.29 and a beta of 1.68. Natera, Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.81 and a 52-week high of $256.36. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $202.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $213.80.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.46) by $0.81. Natera had a negative return on equity of 15.28% and a negative net margin of 9.03%.The company had revenue of $665.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $600.68 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.41) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.71 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on NTRA. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Natera in a report on Monday, January 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Natera from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Natera from $265.00 to $250.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised Natera from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Natera in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $300.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $253.47.

Institutional Trading of Natera

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NTRA. Coatue Management LLC lifted its position in Natera by 1,446.1% in the 4th quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 2,633,334 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $603,270,000 after buying an additional 2,463,008 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Natera by 94.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,976,325 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,140,026,000 after buying an additional 2,420,263 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Natera in the 4th quarter worth approximately $372,398,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Natera by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 12,854,334 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,944,800,000 after buying an additional 1,225,420 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Natera by 37.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,665,013 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $428,987,000 after buying an additional 727,366 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company's stock.

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.

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