Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Tuesday.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on NTRA. Raymond James downgraded Natera from a strong-buy rating to an outperform rating and boosted their target price for the company from $68.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Natera from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Craig Hallum began coverage on Natera in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued a buy rating and a $117.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Natera from $70.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Natera from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $120.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Natera has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $86.40.

Natera Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NTRA stock opened at $91.66 on Tuesday. Natera has a 1-year low of $36.90 and a 1-year high of $98.82. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 3.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.16.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The medical research company reported ($0.64) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.73) by $0.09. Natera had a negative return on equity of 62.19% and a negative net margin of 40.16%. The business had revenue of $311.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $300.38 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Natera will post -2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 6,816 shares of Natera stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.13, for a total value of $634,774.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 227,710 shares in the company, valued at $21,206,632.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 6,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.13, for a total transaction of $634,774.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 227,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,206,632.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Fesko sold 2,358 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.09, for a total value of $153,482.22. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 108,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,061,874.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 455,349 shares of company stock valued at $36,747,623 in the last quarter. Insiders own 9.42% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Natera

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTRA. RiverPark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Natera during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in Natera during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Natera during the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in Natera during the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group increased its stake in Natera by 109.3% during the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 745 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.90% 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.