Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Decreases Stock Holdings in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise decreased its position in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 3.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,745 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 282 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Natera were worth $983,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Natera during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Quarry LP increased its position in Natera by 148.4% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 318 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Natera by 50.0% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 324 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position in Natera by 34.3% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 372 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tobam bought a new position in Natera during the second quarter valued at $74,000. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 4,728 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.41, for a total transaction of $692,226.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 185,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,090,827.94. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 2,212 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.53, for a total transaction of $350,668.36. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 19,386 shares in the company, valued at $3,073,262.58. The trade was a 10.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,821 shares of company stock valued at $4,776,878. 7.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Natera from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Natera from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Craig Hallum increased their target price on shares of Natera from $121.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Natera from $132.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Natera from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.59.

Natera Stock Performance

Shares of Natera stock opened at $167.88 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -95.39 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a quick ratio of 4.23, a current ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $129.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.00. Natera, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.62 and a 52 week high of $169.71.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.57) by $0.31. Natera had a negative net margin of 14.01% and a negative return on equity of 26.23%. The company had revenue of $439.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $361.43 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.95) EPS. Natera’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Natera 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.