California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 10,840 Shares of Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its position in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA - Free Report) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 184,631 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 10,840 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.14% of Natera worth $29,227,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in NTRA. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Natera by 874.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 296,372 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $46,916,000 after buying an additional 265,948 shares during the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS bought a new position in shares of Natera in the fourth quarter worth about $235,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Natera in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $224,040,000. Blair William & Co. IL bought a new stake in shares of Natera during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $426,000. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd increased its position in Natera by 97.5% during the 4th quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 3,869 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $612,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.90% of the company's stock.

Natera Trading Down 4.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTRA traded down $6.03 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $132.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,848,770 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,383,174. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $154.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $151.55. Natera, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $83.13 and a fifty-two week high of $183.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -75.13 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 4.23 and a current ratio of 4.39.

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Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The medical research company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $476.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $447.91 million. Natera had a negative return on equity of 26.23% and a negative net margin of 14.01%. As a group, analysts forecast that Natera, Inc. will post -1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Michael Burkes Brophy sold 2,562 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.41, for a total value of $354,606.42. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 75,557 shares in the company, valued at $10,457,844.37. This trade represents a 3.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 24,861 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.97, for a total transaction of $4,101,319.17. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 140,684 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,208,639.48. The trade was a 15.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 325,922 shares of company stock valued at $51,603,664 over the last ninety days. 7.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on NTRA. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Natera from $183.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Natera from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Natera in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Natera from $176.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Natera from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $178.12.

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.