Bank of America Corp DE Buys 1,798,449 Shares of Certara, Inc. $CERT

Key Points

• Bank of America purchased 1,798,449 Certara shares worth approximately $11.8 million, giving it a 1.18% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 73.96% of the company, with BlackRock and Haveli Investment Management also establishing sizable positions.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Certara has a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $8.28, despite Barclays raising its target to $7.50.
• Certara’s latest quarterly results fell short of expectations, with EPS of $0.08 versus $0.09 expected and revenue of $93.27 million versus $98.09 million; revenue declined 10.8% year over year.

Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,798,449 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,780,000. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 1.18% of Certara as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CERT. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Certara in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $123,259,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Certara by 2.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,562,508 shares of the company's stock worth $48,806,000 after buying an additional 175,024 shares in the last quarter. Haveli Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Certara during the second quarter worth $48,470,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $15,251,000 after acquiring an additional 402,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in Certara by 78.5% during the fourth quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,546,299 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,623,000 after acquiring an additional 679,919 shares in the last quarter. 73.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on CERT. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Certara from $6.50 to $7.50 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings raised Certara from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Certara presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $8.28.

Certara Stock Performance

Certara stock opened at $9.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.55 and a quick ratio of 2.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.24 and a beta of 1.40. Certara, Inc. has a 1-year low of $4.45 and a 1-year high of $13.88. The company's 50-day moving average is $8.06 and its 200 day moving average is $6.67.

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

Certara Profile

Certara NASDAQ: CERT provides software and technology-enabled services that support the development, approval and commercialization of medicines. The company specializes in model-informed drug development, using pharmacometrics, simulation, data analysis and regulatory science to help biopharmaceutical companies evaluate drug safety, efficacy, dosing and potential regulatory outcomes.

Its software portfolio includes platforms such as Simcyp, which supports clinical pharmacology and drug-interaction modeling; Phoenix, used for pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analysis; and Pinnacle 21, which helps organizations manage clinical data standards and regulatory submissions.

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