State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Decreases Position in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System cut its stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA – Get Rating) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 100,371 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,520 shares during the quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System owned approximately 0.10% of Natera worth $4,032,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NTRA. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 49,443 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,986,000 after buying an additional 7,364 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 102,798 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,129,000 after buying an additional 20,327 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,075 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $365,000 after buying an additional 810 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 40,952 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,645,000 after buying an additional 9,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banque Pictet & Cie SA increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 170,949 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,867,000 after buying an additional 3,028 shares during the last quarter. 93.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Natera

In other news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 40,835 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total transaction of $2,245,925.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 205,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,282,040. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 40,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total value of $2,245,925.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 205,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,282,040. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel Rabinowitz sold 5,498 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.94, for a total transaction of $269,072.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 184,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,039,169.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 104,618 shares of company stock valued at $5,618,564. Insiders own 10.27% of the company’s stock.

Natera Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTRA opened at $51.10 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.19. The company has a market cap of $5.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.17 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 3.79, a current ratio of 3.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $29.21 and a 52 week high of $59.75.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 9th. The medical research company reported ($1.23) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.18) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $241.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $227.43 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 106.67% and a negative net margin of 66.79%. The business’s revenue was up 24.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($1.45) EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Natera, Inc. will post -4.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on NTRA shares. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Natera from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 3rd. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Natera in a report on Friday, May 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Natera from $65.00 to $66.00 in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Natera in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Finally, Credit Suisse Group lifted their target price on shares of Natera from $65.00 to $70.00 in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.89.

Natera Profile

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Natera, Inc is a diagnostics company, which engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of genetic testing services. It provides Panorama non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT), Vistara, horizon carrier screening (HCS), spectrum pre-implantation genetic screening and spectrum pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, Anora products of conception (POC) and non-invasive paternity testing (PAT).