US Bancorp DE Decreases Stock Holdings in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

US Bancorp DE reduced its stake in shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA – Get Rating) by 4.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,410 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 795 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Natera were worth $720,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NTRA. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Natera by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 820,974 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,399,000 after purchasing an additional 51,791 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Natera by 215.2% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,049 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,399 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of Natera by 80.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 130,062 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,390,000 after purchasing an additional 58,049 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Natera during the 1st quarter worth $209,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Natera by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 134,342 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,466,000 after purchasing an additional 7,835 shares during the last quarter. 93.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Natera Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NTRA stock opened at $40.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.99 billion, a PE ratio of -7.20 and a beta of 1.28. Natera, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.10 and a fifty-two week high of $74.82. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 2.95 and a current ratio of 3.10.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 8th. The medical research company reported ($1.25) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.42) by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $210.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.31 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 109.07% and a negative net margin of 70.34%. Equities analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -5.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Robert Alan Schueren sold 2,244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.62, for a total transaction of $84,419.28. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $296,671.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Robert Alan Schueren sold 2,244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.62, for a total transaction of $84,419.28. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $296,671.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 2,645 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.31, for a total value of $101,329.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 80,985 shares in the company, valued at $3,102,535.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,716 shares of company stock valued at $1,590,467 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NTRA. StockNews.com began coverage on Natera in a research note on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Natera from $72.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 9th. Raymond James upgraded Natera from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Stephens decreased their price target on Natera to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 16th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group decreased their price target on Natera from $70.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.67.

About Natera

(Get Rating)

Natera, Inc, a diagnostics company, develops and commercializes molecular testing services worldwide. It offers Panorama, a non-invasive prenatal test that screens for chromosomal abnormalities of a fetus with a blood draw from the mother, as well as twin pregnancies for zygosity; Vistara, a single-gene mutations screening test to identify single-gene disorder; Horizon carrier screening to determine carrier status for various genetic diseases; and Spectrum to identify chromosomal anomalies or inherited genetic conditions during an in vitro fertilization cycle.