Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on NTRA. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Natera in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Natera from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Natera from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $253.47.

Natera Stock Performance

Shares of Natera stock opened at $207.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $29.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -135.93 and a beta of 1.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $207.26 and its 200 day moving average is $209.16. Natera has a one year low of $125.38 and a one year high of $256.36.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 15.28% and a negative net margin of 9.03%.The business 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 company posted ($0.41) earnings per share. Analysts predict that Natera will post -1.49 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Natera

In other news, CFO Michael Burkes Brophy sold 785 shares of Natera stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.13, for a total transaction of $160,242.05. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 63,354 shares in the company, valued at $12,932,452.02. This trade represents a 1.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.30, for a total transaction of $606,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 147,882 shares in the company, valued at $29,916,528.60. This trade represents a 1.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 314,545 shares of company stock valued at $73,141,185. Corporate insiders own 5.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Coatue Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 1,446.1% in the fourth quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 2,633,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $603,270,000 after purchasing an additional 2,463,008 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in 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. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Natera during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $372,398,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Natera by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 12,854,334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,944,800,000 after buying an additional 1,225,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake 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. 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.