Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Purchases 227,388 Shares of Certara, Inc. $CERT

Key Points

• Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Certara by 29% during the first quarter, now holding over 1 million shares valued at approximately $10 million.
• The company reported earnings of $0.07 per share for the last quarter, missing expectations by $0.03, despite revenue of $104.57 million which exceeded estimates.
• Certara has been the subject of several analysts' ratings changes, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of approximately $15.14.

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT - Free Report) by 29.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,011,471 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 227,388 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned 0.62% of Certara worth $10,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in Certara in the first quarter worth approximately $120,000. First Trust Advisors LP bought a new position in Certara in the fourth quarter worth approximately $140,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in Certara by 3.9% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 59,721 shares of the company's stock worth $591,000 after acquiring an additional 2,268 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Certara by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 877,010 shares of the company's stock worth $9,340,000 after purchasing an additional 108,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Certara in the first quarter worth $238,000. 73.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CERT shares. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Certara in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $16.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Certara from $17.50 to $15.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays raised shares of Certara from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Certara from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Certara in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $15.14.

Certara Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CERT traded down $0.03 on Friday, reaching $10.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 897,702 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,687,354. Certara, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.64 and a 52-week high of $15.69. The company has a market cap of $1.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 216.84 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.16.

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.03). Certara had a return on equity of 5.11% and a net margin of 1.97%.The business had revenue of $104.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $104.14 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.07 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Certara, Inc. will post 0.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Certara

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.