Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 515,706 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,244 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Certara were worth $6,039,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CERT. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Certara by 112.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 2,076 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Certara by 48.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $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. Algert Global LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Certara during the 2nd quarter valued at about $156,000. Finally, MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in Certara during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $162,000. 73.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Certara

In other news, insider Patrick F. Smith sold 5,409 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.03, for a total transaction of $59,661.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $552,503.73. This represents a 9.75 % 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 the SEC website. 2.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Certara Stock Performance

Shares of CERT stock opened at $10.65 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -53.25, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 1.53. Certara, Inc. has a one year low of $9.41 and a one year high of $19.87. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 2.86 and a current ratio of 2.86.

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $94.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $95.51 million. Certara had a positive return on equity of 3.43% and a negative net margin of 8.34%. The business’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Certara, Inc. will post 0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CERT shares. Barclays dropped 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. UBS Group upgraded shares of Certara from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Certara from $18.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Certara presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.92.

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.