Michael Burkes Brophy Sells 785 Shares of Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) Stock

Key Points

• Michael Burkes Brophy, Natera's CFO, sold 785 shares on March 10 at an average price of $204.13 for $160,242, trimming his stake to 63,354 shares (a 1.22% reduction); this follows a string of sizable insider sales earlier in the year that amounted to tens of thousands of shares and several million dollars.
• Natera beat Q4 expectations (EPS $0.35 vs. -$0.46 and revenue $665.5M vs. $600.7M), but the stock traded down about 1.2% to $196.61; analysts maintain a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $253.47 average price target and institutional ownership near 99.9%.

Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA - Get Free Report) CFO Michael Burkes Brophy sold 785 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.13, for a total value of $160,242.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 63,354 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,932,452.02. The trade was a 1.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Michael Burkes Brophy also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, February 3rd, Michael Burkes Brophy sold 6,939 shares of Natera stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.83, for a total transaction of $1,580,912.37.
• On Thursday, January 29th, Michael Burkes Brophy sold 1,867 shares of Natera stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.40, for a total transaction of $430,156.80.
• On Wednesday, January 28th, Michael Burkes Brophy sold 2,413 shares of Natera stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.56, for a total transaction of $573,232.28.
• On Tuesday, January 27th, Michael Burkes Brophy sold 784 shares of Natera stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.53, for a total transaction of $188,575.52.
• On Wednesday, January 21st, Michael Burkes Brophy sold 37,175 shares of Natera stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.54, for a total transaction of $9,016,424.50.
• On Tuesday, January 20th, Michael Burkes Brophy sold 23,948 shares of Natera stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.74, for a total value of $5,621,553.52.

Natera Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NTRA stock traded down $2.34 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $196.61. 1,404,465 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,084,721. Natera, Inc. has a 1 year low of $125.38 and a 1 year high of $256.36. The firm has a market cap of $27.87 billion, a PE ratio of -128.50 and a beta of 1.65. The company's 50 day moving average is $221.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $206.07.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The medical research company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $600.68 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.41) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Natera

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Natera by 10.5% in the fourth 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. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Natera by 2.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,676,653 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,141,594,000 after buying an additional 282,826 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Natera by 94.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,976,325 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,140,026,000 after buying an additional 2,420,263 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Natera by 2.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,389,599 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $545,624,000 after acquiring an additional 72,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 727,366 shares during the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTRA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Natera in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Natera from $230.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Natera from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Natera in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Natera from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $253.47.

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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