Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) CFO Sells $594,781.80 in Stock

Key Points

• CFO Michael Burkes Brophy sold 3,070 shares of Natera on April 29 at an average price of $193.74 for $594,781.80 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan to cover tax withholding, reducing his stake by 5% to 58,291 shares (valued at ~$11.29M).
• The April 29 sale is part of a string of insider sales this year — including transactions on April 27, March 10, February 3 and January 29 — totaling roughly $3.17 million across those trades.
• For context, NTRA traded around $194.75 (market cap ~$27.7B) with a consensus analyst rating of Moderate Buy and a $253.47 price target; the company recently beat quarterly revenue and EPS estimates (revenue $665.5M, EPS $0.35).

Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA - Get Free Report) CFO Michael Burkes Brophy sold 3,070 shares of Natera stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.74, for a total transaction of $594,781.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 58,291 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,293,298.34. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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.

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

• On Monday, April 27th, Michael Burkes Brophy sold 1,993 shares of Natera stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.14, for a total transaction of $406,851.02.
• On Tuesday, March 10th, Michael Burkes Brophy sold 785 shares of Natera stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.13, for a total transaction of $160,242.05.
• On Tuesday, February 3rd, Michael Burkes Brophy sold 6,939 shares of Natera stock. The stock was 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.

Natera Price Performance

NTRA stock traded down $5.42 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $194.75. The stock had a trading volume of 963,644 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,219,699. The firm has a market cap of $27.71 billion, a PE ratio of -127.29 and a beta of 1.68. Natera, Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.81 and a 12-month high of $256.36. The company's 50-day moving average price is $202.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $213.80.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Natera

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Natera by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 244 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Natera by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 270 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Natera by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,541 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH lifted its holdings in Natera by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 1,804 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alamea Verwaltungs GmbH lifted its holdings in Natera by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Alamea Verwaltungs GmbH now owns 2,229 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $515,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTRA has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Natera from $265.00 to $250.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Natera in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Natera in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Natera from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Natera from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued 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 stock presently 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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