Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC Sells 188,612 Shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC lessened its position in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 18.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 840,666 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 188,612 shares during the period. Natera makes up 1.3% of Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC owned 0.64% of Natera worth $133,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Natera by 50.3% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 657 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Natera during the 4th quarter worth $2,894,000. SYM FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new position in shares of Natera during the 4th quarter worth $256,000. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Natera by 753.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 27,551 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,361,000 after purchasing an additional 24,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Natera by 1,328.0% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 357 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the period. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTRA has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Natera from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Natera in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Natera in a research report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Natera from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Natera from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $175.76.

Natera Stock Up 3.0 %

NTRA stock opened at $160.10 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $146.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $154.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 4.39 and a quick ratio of 4.23. Natera, Inc. has a 1-year low of $92.14 and a 1-year high of $183.00. The firm has a market cap of $21.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -90.97 and a beta of 1.79.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The medical research company reported ($0.41) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.42) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $476.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $447.91 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 26.23% and a negative net margin of 14.01%. Research analysts predict that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Natera news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 87,272 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 203,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,160,963.60. The trade was a 30.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.29, for a total value of $859,740.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 143,768 shares in the company, valued at $20,600,516.72. This trade represents a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 152,436 shares of company stock valued at $22,019,079 over the last three months. Company insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Natera Company 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.