Penserra Capital Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA)

Penserra Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA - Free Report) by 54.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,992 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 13,328 shares during the quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC's holdings in Natera were worth $1,395,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Natera during the 1st quarter worth about $220,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Natera by 22.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 669,961 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $61,276,000 after purchasing an additional 121,809 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Natera during the 1st quarter worth about $292,000. Comerica Bank increased its position in shares of Natera by 458.0% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 14,866 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,360,000 after purchasing an additional 12,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Natera during the 1st quarter worth about $707,000. 99.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Natera Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTRA opened at $168.32 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 4.39 and a quick ratio of 4.23. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $132.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $118.64. Natera, Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.88 and a 12-month high of $171.95.

Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The medical research company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.57) by $0.31. Natera had a negative return on equity of 26.23% and a negative net margin of 14.01%. The firm had revenue of $439.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $361.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.95) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 63.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Natera, Inc. will post -1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Natera

In other Natera news, CEO Steven Leonard Chapman sold 5,024 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.48, for a total transaction of $645,483.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 195,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,141,737.28. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Gail Boxer Marcus sold 9,682 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.98, for a total value of $1,548,926.36. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,704 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,552,445.92. The trade was a 49.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,503 shares of company stock worth $6,325,804 over the last three months. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NTRA shares. Craig Hallum raised their target price on Natera from $121.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Natera from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. StockNews.com cut Natera from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Natera from $132.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on Natera from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Natera has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $140.59.

About Natera

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.