Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Certara (NASDAQ:CERT)

Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 6,462 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 4,617% compared to the average volume of 137 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Certara

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CERT. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division boosted its stake in Certara by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 19,460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Certara by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 1,923 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Certara by 12.1% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 23,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,000 after buying an additional 2,513 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Certara by 28.1% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 2,871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Certara by 22.7% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 24,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 4,618 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on CERT shares. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 target price on shares of Certara in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. Barclays increased their price target on Certara from $7.50 to $9.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Certara from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.60.

Certara Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CERT opened at $8.96 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.91 and a beta of 1.42. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.55 and a quick ratio of 2.55. Certara has a fifty-two week low of $4.45 and a fifty-two week high of $13.30.

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $93.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $98.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Certara will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

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.