Short Interest in Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT) Expands By 7.4%

Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,670,000 shares, a growth of 7.4% from the March 15th total of 5,280,000 shares. Approximately 5.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 550,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 10.3 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Certara news, insider Patrick F. Smith sold 14,427 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.85, for a total value of $243,094.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,091 shares in the company, valued at $844,033.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Certara news, SVP Richard M. Traynor sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total value of $54,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 173,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,123,432. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Patrick F. Smith sold 14,427 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.85, for a total transaction of $243,094.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $844,033.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,427 shares of company stock worth $405,095. 2.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Certara

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CERT. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Certara by 83.4% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 37,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $796,000 after purchasing an additional 16,861 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Certara by 1.1% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 384,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,268,000 after purchasing an additional 4,107 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Certara by 71.6% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 19,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 8,282 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Certara by 18.3% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Certara during the first quarter worth about $111,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CERT has been the subject of several recent research reports. KeyCorp raised shares of Certara from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $23.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Certara from $14.00 to $15.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. SVB Leerink initiated coverage on shares of Certara in a report on Monday, February 26th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Certara from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Certara in a report on Monday, February 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Certara currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.06.

Certara Stock Performance

CERT stock traded down $0.37 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $17.07. 364,968 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 543,301. The firm has a market cap of $2.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -48.77, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 2.62. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.15. Certara has a 1-year low of $11.81 and a 1-year high of $24.96.

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.04). Certara had a negative net margin of 15.62% and a positive return on equity of 4.33%. The firm had revenue of $88.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.80 million. On average, analysts expect that Certara will post 0.29 earnings per share for the current year.

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.