Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,330,000 shares, a decrease of 18.1% from the August 31st total of 5,290,000 shares. Approximately 3.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,020,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days.

Certara Stock Performance

CERT stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $11.71. 2,007,275 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 733,681. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a PE ratio of -30.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.17 and a beta of 1.49. Certara has a 52 week low of $10.35 and a 52 week high of $19.87. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $12.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 2.61 and a current ratio of 2.61.

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.03). Certara had a negative net margin of 21.64% and a positive return on equity of 3.03%. The business had revenue of $93.31 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.01 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. Certara’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Certara will post 0.27 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Certara

In other news, insider Leif E. Pedersen sold 51,224 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.29, for a total value of $578,318.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 99,704 shares in the company, valued at $1,125,658.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Certara

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Certara in the second quarter worth $156,000. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its position in Certara by 19.6% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 159,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,202,000 after buying an additional 26,095 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Certara by 4.5% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 22,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 975 shares during the period. Daventry Group LP grew its position in shares of Certara by 153.0% in the second quarter. Daventry Group LP now owns 1,308,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,124,000 after purchasing an additional 791,405 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Certara in the second quarter valued at about $311,000. 73.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CERT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Certara from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Barclays reduced their price target on Certara from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Certara in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. UBS Group upgraded Certara from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Certara from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.79.

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.