Certara (NASDAQ:CERT) Sees Large Volume Increase – Time to Buy?

Shares of Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Monday . Approximately 5,309,363 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 202% from the previous session’s volume of 1,760,787 shares.The stock last traded at $8.5150 and had previously closed at $8.67.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on CERT. Wall Street Zen raised Certara from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Certara from $17.50 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Certara from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Craig Hallum initiated coverage on shares of Certara in a research note on Monday, September 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $16.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Certara from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Certara currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.38.

Certara Trading Down 0.6%

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $11.77 and a 200 day moving average of $11.47. The firm has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of 123.14 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $104.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $104.53 million. Certara had a return on equity of 5.18% and a net margin of 2.62%.During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.13 earnings per share. Certara has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.450-0.470 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Certara, Inc. will post 0.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Certara news, insider Leif E. Pedersen sold 51,224 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.92, for a total transaction of $559,366.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 73,979 shares in the company, valued at $807,850.68. This trade represents a 40.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Certara

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AdvisorNet Financial Inc bought a new position in Certara in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. First Horizon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Certara in the third quarter worth $30,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Certara by 66.7% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 1,153 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in Certara during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its position in Certara by 50.7% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 3,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 1,175 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.96% of the company’s stock.

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.