Certara (NASDAQ:CERT) Shares Up 7% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Certara shares rose 7% to approximately $9.25, above the consensus analyst price target of $8.60.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious, with a consensus “Hold” rating; coverage includes one Strong Buy, four Buys, six Holds, and one Sell.
• Recent quarterly results missed expectations: EPS was $0.08 versus $0.09 expected, while revenue fell 10.8% year over year to $93.27 million. Institutional investors own nearly 74% of the company.

Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT - Get Free Report)'s share price was up 7% during trading on Friday. The company traded as high as $9.27 and last traded at $9.2450. Approximately 1,910,498 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 45% from the average daily volume of 3,503,389 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.64.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on CERT shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Certara from $7.50 to $9.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Certara from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $10.00 target price on shares of Certara in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Certara presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $8.60.

Certara Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.46 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.84. The company has a quick ratio of 2.55, a current ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.08 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.09 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.07 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Certara, Inc. will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Certara

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Certara in the 2nd quarter valued at about $123,259,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised 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 worth $48,806,000 after purchasing an additional 175,024 shares during the period. Haveli Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Certara in the 2nd quarter worth $48,470,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Certara in the 2nd quarter valued at $46,446,000. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its position in Certara by 17.7% in the 1st 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.96% of the company's stock.

Certara Company Profile

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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