Graham Capital Management L.P. Sells 3,571 Shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Graham Capital Management L.P. decreased its position in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA - Free Report) by 50.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,487 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 3,571 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in Natera were worth $552,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NTRA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Natera by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,316,470 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,949,697,000 after acquiring an additional 879,463 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Natera by 134.9% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 3,871,862 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Natera by 43.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,701,425 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,060,836,000 after buying an additional 2,036,396 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Natera by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,240,041 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $512,898,000 after acquiring an additional 439,778 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Natera by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,232,681 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $355,809,000 after acquiring an additional 142,201 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on NTRA shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Natera from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Natera from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Natera in a report on Friday, February 28th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Natera from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Natera from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $182.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Natera

In other news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 87,272 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.40, for a total transaction of $12,514,804.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 203,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,160,963.60. This represents a 30.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.29, for a total value of $859,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 143,768 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,600,516.72. The trade was a 4.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 152,436 shares of company stock worth $22,019,079 over the last three months. 7.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Natera Price Performance

Shares of Natera stock traded down $0.57 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $153.96. The stock had a trading volume of 191,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,380,642. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.23 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 firm has a market cap of $21.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -87.59 and a beta of 1.79. The business's 50-day moving average is $149.13 and its 200 day moving average is $157.15.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The medical research company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.59) by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $501.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $446.68 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 26.23% and a negative net margin of 14.01%. The company's revenue was up 36.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.56) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Natera 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.