Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Certara (NASDAQ:CERT) Stock Price

Key Points

• Barclays raised Certara’s price target from $7.50 to $9.00 while maintaining an “equal weight” rating, implying approximately 1.75% downside from the reported $9.16 share price.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed but centered on “Hold”: the consensus target is $8.60, based on one Strong Buy, four Buys, six Holds, and one Sell rating.
• Certara’s latest quarter fell short of expectations, with $0.08 EPS versus $0.09 expected and revenue of $93.27 million versus $98.09 million; revenue declined 10.8% year over year.

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT - Get Free Report) had its target price lifted by research analysts at Barclays from $7.50 to $9.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the stock. Barclays's price target would suggest a potential downside of 1.75% from the stock's current price.

CERT has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Certara from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $10.00 target price on shares of Certara in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $8.60.

Certara Stock Performance

Shares of CERT opened at $9.16 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.55, a current ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business's 50 day moving average price is $8.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.80. Certara has a 52 week low of $4.45 and a 52 week high of $13.30. The stock has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.42 and a beta of 1.42.

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.01). Certara had a positive return on equity of 3.86% and a negative net margin of 16.75%.The company had revenue of $93.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $98.09 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.07 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Certara will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Certara during the second quarter valued at approximately $123,259,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Certara by 2.1% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,562,508 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,806,000 after purchasing an additional 175,024 shares in the last quarter. Haveli Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Certara in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,470,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Certara in the second quarter worth $46,446,000. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its position in Certara by 17.7% during the first quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 2,675,543 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,251,000 after purchasing an additional 402,720 shares during the last quarter. 73.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Certara

Certara, Inc NASDAQ: CERT provides software and technology-enabled services for the biopharmaceutical industry. The company helps drug developers use regulatory science, data analysis, and modeling and simulation to support decisions throughout the research, development, and commercialization lifecycle.

Its offerings include software for pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modeling, clinical trial design, patient and disease modeling, regulatory submissions, and real-world data analysis.

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