Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Position in Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 53,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $943,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Certara by 45.3% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 335,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,877,000 after purchasing an additional 104,616 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Certara by 5.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 607,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,826,000 after acquiring an additional 32,790 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Certara by 48.8% in the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 727,240 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,574,000 after acquiring an additional 238,603 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its stake in Certara by 31.6% in the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 151,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,207,000 after acquiring an additional 36,490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Certara by 1.1% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 7,150,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,974,000 after acquiring an additional 77,805 shares during the last quarter. 73.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Certara

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

Certara Stock Down 0.9 %

CERT opened at $16.30 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a current ratio of 2.62. Certara, Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.81 and a twelve month high of $24.64. The firm has a market cap of $2.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -46.57, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.63.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CERT. JMP Securities began coverage on shares of Certara in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Certara from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Certara from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Leerink Partnrs reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Certara in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Certara from $14.00 to $15.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.06.

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.