Natera, Inc. $NTRA Shares Sold by Westpac Banking Corp

Westpac Banking Corp cut its holdings in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 32.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,515 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 4,566 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Natera were worth $2,180,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Horizon Investments LLC raised its stake in Natera by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 244 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in Natera by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 270 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Natera by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,541 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its stake in Natera by 3.1% in the third quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 1,804 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $290,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp raised its stake in Natera by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 931 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $213,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. 99.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Roelof Botha sold 78,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.31, for a total transaction of $17,184,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,076,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $237,097,181.38. The trade was a 6.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 5,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.14, for a total transaction of $1,191,769.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 150,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,777,983.66. This represents a 3.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders sold 115,406 shares of company stock worth $24,824,425. 5.05% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTRA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. William Blair initiated coverage on Natera in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. BTIG Research cut their price target on Natera from $260.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $249.00 price target on shares of Natera in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Natera in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Natera from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Natera currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $256.81.

Natera Trading Down 0.4%

NTRA stock opened at $211.85 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $203.28 and a 200-day moving average of $215.94. Natera, Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.81 and a 12-month high of $256.36. The company has a market cap of $30.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -129.97 and a beta of 1.56.

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.