Avanza Fonder AB Sells 250 Shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Avanza Fonder AB reduced its holdings in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 3.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,195 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 250 shares during the period. Avanza Fonder AB’s holdings in Natera were worth $887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NTRA. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Natera by 134.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,742,428 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,067,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,871,862 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Natera by 43.7% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,701,425 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,060,836,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036,396 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Natera in the 4th quarter worth about $224,040,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Natera during the 4th quarter valued at about $146,419,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Natera by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,316,470 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,949,697,000 after buying an additional 879,463 shares in the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on NTRA. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Natera from $176.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Natera from $183.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Natera in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group increased their price target on Natera from $211.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Natera from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $184.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Natera news, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.44, for a total value of $657,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,704 shares in the company, valued at approximately $937,965.76. This trade represents a 41.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 6,702 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.03, for a total value of $978,693.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 203,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,695,784.62. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 68,275 shares of company stock valued at $10,142,783. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Natera Stock Performance

Shares of Natera stock opened at $164.35 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.44 billion, a PE ratio of -93.38 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $153.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $158.62. Natera, Inc. has a one year low of $92.14 and a one year high of $183.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 4.23 and a current ratio of 4.39.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The medical research company reported ($0.50) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.59) by $0.09. Natera had a negative net margin of 14.01% and a negative return on equity of 26.23%. The firm had revenue of $501.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $446.68 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.56) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 36.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Natera

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.