Certara (NASDAQ:CERT) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume - Time to Buy?

Shares of Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT - Get Free Report) saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 1,332,401 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 77% from the previous session's volume of 750,817 shares.The stock last traded at $11.48 and had previously closed at $11.22.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CERT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Certara from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Certara from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Certara in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Certara from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $16.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Certara from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $17.08.

Certara Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 2.61. The business has a 50-day moving average of $11.67 and a 200-day moving average of $14.48. The company has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.77, a P/E/G ratio of 5.40 and a beta of 1.49.

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $93.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.01 million. Certara had a positive return on equity of 3.03% and a negative net margin of 21.64%. Certara's revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Certara, Inc. will post 0.27 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Leif E. Pedersen sold 51,224 shares of Certara stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.29, for a total transaction of $578,318.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 99,704 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,125,658.16. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Leif E. Pedersen sold 51,224 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.29, for a total transaction of $578,318.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 99,704 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,125,658.16. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Patrick F. Smith sold 5,409 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.03, for a total value of $59,661.27. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 50,091 shares of the company's stock, valued at $552,503.73. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.39% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Certara

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kopion Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Certara during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,457,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of Certara by 46.7% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 22,300 shares of the company's stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 7,100 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Certara by 24.2% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 20,260 shares of the company's stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 3,948 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in Certara during the second quarter valued at approximately $156,000. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. raised its stake in Certara by 19.6% in the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 159,008 shares of the company's stock worth $2,202,000 after buying an additional 26,095 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.

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