Wall Street Zen Upgrades Certara (NASDAQ:CERT) to “Buy”

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Certara in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Craig Hallum started coverage on Certara in a research report on Monday, September 29th. They set a “buy” rating and a $16.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group lowered their target price on Certara from $17.50 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Zacks Research upgraded Certara from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Certara from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.38.

Certara Price Performance

CERT opened at $8.67 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 123.86 and a beta of 1.44. Certara has a 52-week low of $8.47 and a 52-week high of $15.69.

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $104.62 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $104.53 million. Certara had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 5.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.13 earnings per share. Certara has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.450-0.470 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Certara will post 0.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Certara

In other news, insider Leif E. Pedersen sold 51,224 shares of Certara stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.92, for a total transaction of $559,366.08. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 73,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $807,850.68. The trade was a 40.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Certara

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CERT. AdvisorNet Financial Inc purchased a new position in Certara during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. First Horizon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Certara during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Certara by 66.7% during the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,153 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Certara during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Certara by 50.7% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 3,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 1,175 shares during the period. 73.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.