Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT) Short Interest Down 7.9% in May

Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT) saw a large drop in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,220,000 shares, a drop of 7.9% from the May 15th total of 5,670,000 shares. Approximately 4.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 536,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 9.7 days.

Insider Activity at Certara

In related news, insider Patrick F. Smith sold 14,427 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.85, for a total transaction of $243,094.95. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $844,033.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Certara news, insider Patrick F. Smith sold 14,427 shares of Certara stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.85, for a total value of $243,094.95. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $844,033.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard M. Traynor sold 3,000 shares of Certara stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total value of $54,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 173,524 shares in the company, valued at $3,123,432. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Certara

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CERT. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Certara by 32.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 54,167 shares of the company’s stock worth $787,000 after acquiring an additional 13,250 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Certara by 1.1% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 263,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,900 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Certara by 5.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 607,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,826,000 after purchasing an additional 32,790 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Certara by 24.8% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 27,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 5,467 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its holdings in shares of Certara by 31.6% during the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 151,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,207,000 after purchasing an additional 36,490 shares in the last quarter. 73.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Certara Stock Down 7.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ CERT traded down $1.00 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $13.37. 1,454,467 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 549,582. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a current ratio of 3.26. Certara has a 52 week low of $11.81 and a 52 week high of $19.87. The company has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.33, a PEG ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 1.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $16.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.02.

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.01). Certara had a positive return on equity of 4.08% and a negative net margin of 17.02%. The company had revenue of $96.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.48 million. Research analysts anticipate that Certara will post 0.29 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CERT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. SVB Leerink assumed coverage on Certara in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $19.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp raised Certara from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $23.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Certara from $14.00 to $15.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Certara from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Leerink Partnrs reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Certara in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Certara presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.06.

Certara Company Profile

Certara, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides software products and technology-enabled services to customers for biosimulation in drug discovery, preclinical and clinical research, regulatory submissions, and market access in the United States and internationally. It offers solutions for model-informed drug development, as well as biosimulation solution used to predict both pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.