Royce & Associates LP Makes New Investment in Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT)

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP has invested approximately $4.44 million in Certara, acquiring 448,371 shares and holding 0.28% of the company.
• Certara's recent earnings report showed $0.14 earnings per share, exceeding estimates of $0.10, with revenue of $106 million for the quarter.
• A majority of Certara's stock, around 73.96%, is owned by institutional investors, indicating strong hedge fund interest in the company.

Royce & Associates LP bought a new stake in shares of Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 448,371 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,439,000. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.28% of Certara as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Certara by 218.8% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,719 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in shares of Certara by 48.4% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,208 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 1,047 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Certara during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Certara by 57.2% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 7,209 shares of the company's stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 2,624 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Certara in the 1st quarter worth $104,000. 73.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on CERT. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Certara from $9.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays upgraded Certara from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $11.00 to $14.00 in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Certara in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $16.00 price objective for the company. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Certara in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on Certara from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Certara currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $15.29.

Certara Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CERT traded down $0.22 on Thursday, hitting $10.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 692,631 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,732,112. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.78 and a quick ratio of 2.78. The company has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -501.00 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $11.11 and a 200-day moving average of $11.84. Certara, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.64 and a 12-month high of $16.18.

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.04. Certara had a negative net margin of 0.67% and a positive return on equity of 5.05%. The company had revenue of $106.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $104.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Certara, Inc. will post 0.28 EPS for the current 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.