Short Interest in Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT) Increases By 31.4%

Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,360,000 shares, an increase of 31.4% from the October 15th total of 4,080,000 shares. Currently, 4.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,270,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days.

Certara Price Performance

NASDAQ:CERT traded down $0.57 on Friday, hitting $9.96. The company had a trading volume of 1,226,565 shares, compared to its average volume of 792,593. Certara has a 52 week low of $9.88 and a 52 week high of $19.87. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -49.80, a PEG ratio of 5.46 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $10.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.49.

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $94.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $95.51 million. Certara had a positive return on equity of 3.43% and a negative net margin of 8.34%. Certara’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.06 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Certara will post 0.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Certara

In related news, insider Patrick F. Smith sold 5,409 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.03, for a total transaction of $59,661.27. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $552,503.73. This trade represents a 9.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Leif E. Pedersen sold 51,224 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,125,658.16. This represents a 33.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.39% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Certara

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Certara during the second quarter worth $26,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Certara in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Certara by 48.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 1,584 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Certara in the second quarter valued at about $152,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC bought a new position in shares of Certara during the second quarter worth about $156,000. 73.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CERT shares. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Certara from $18.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group raised shares of Certara from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Certara from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.92.

Certara Company Profile

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.