Sit Investment Associates Inc. Sells 3,407 Shares of Natera, Inc. $NTRA

Sit Investment Associates Inc. lowered its stake in Natera, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRA) by 17.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,688 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,407 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc.’s holdings in Natera were worth $3,594,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Robinhood Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Natera during the 4th quarter valued at about $12,981,000. Systrade AG bought a new position in shares of Natera in the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,454,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Natera during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,069,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Natera by 5.7% during the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 159,166 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,621,000 after buying an additional 8,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Natera during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,825,000. Institutional investors own 99.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on NTRA shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Natera from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Natera in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered Natera from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Natera in a research note on Friday, June 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $245.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Natera in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $256.53.

Natera Price Performance

Shares of Natera stock opened at $231.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $33.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -141.97 and a beta of 1.56. The company’s 50 day moving average is $208.20 and its 200 day moving average is $215.52. Natera, Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.81 and a twelve month high of $256.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Roelof Botha sold 78,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.31, for a total value of $17,184,180.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,076,198 shares in the company, valued at $237,097,181.38. This trade represents a 6.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Solomon Moshkevich sold 3,000 shares of Natera stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.43, for a total value of $655,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 137,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,065,360.49. The trade was a 2.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 162,342 shares of company stock worth $35,283,396 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 5.05% of the company’s stock.

About Natera

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.