Natera, Inc. $NTRA Shares Sold by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,652 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,309 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Natera were worth $749,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NTRA. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC increased its stake in Natera by 1.7% during the second quarter. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $743,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Natera by 4.5% in the third quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 1,682 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Gries Financial LLC increased its stake in Natera by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 1,904 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Natera by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 431 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Earned Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Natera by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,952 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTRA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their price objective on Natera from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Natera in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Natera to a “hold” rating and set a $172.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Zacks Research raised Natera from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 1st. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Natera in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $300.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Roelof Botha sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.12, for a total value of $17,709,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,154,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $272,529,231.76. The trade was a 6.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Rowan E. Chapman sold 4,366 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.10, for a total transaction of $1,061,374.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,404,388.70. This represents a 43.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 339,029 shares of company stock worth $72,768,595 over the last three months. Company insiders own 5.63% of the company’s stock.

Natera Stock Up 3.4%

Shares of NTRA opened at $242.78 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -106.02 and a beta of 1.62. Natera, Inc. has a 52-week low of $125.38 and a 52-week high of $256.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $232.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $190.23.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The medical research company reported ($0.64) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by ($0.25). Natera had a negative return on equity of 25.07% and a negative net margin of 14.61%.The company had revenue of $592.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $514.55 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.26) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Natera Profile

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.