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

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 52,900 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Certara were worth $619,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its position in Certara by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 4,404,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,747,000 after purchasing an additional 579,349 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in Certara by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,173,195 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,617,000 after purchasing an additional 32,846 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Certara by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,079,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,643,000 after purchasing an additional 273,095 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Certara by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,773,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,418,000 after acquiring an additional 248,448 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daventry Group LP boosted its holdings in shares of Certara by 153.0% in the 2nd quarter. Daventry Group LP now owns 1,308,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,124,000 after acquiring an additional 791,405 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.96% of the company’s stock.

Certara Stock Performance

CERT opened at $10.31 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $11.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.81. Certara, Inc. has a 1 year low of $9.99 and a 1 year high of $19.87. The stock has a market cap of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 1.51.

Certara (NASDAQ:CERT) last posted 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). Certara had a negative net margin of 21.64% and a positive return on equity of 3.03%. The firm had revenue of $93.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $96.01 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Certara, Inc. will post 0.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Certara from $18.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. KeyCorp dropped their price objective 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. UBS Group raised 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. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Certara in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Certara from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.25.

Insider Activity at Certara

In other Certara news, insider Leif E. Pedersen sold 51,224 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 99,704 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,125,658.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Certara news, insider Leif E. Pedersen sold 51,224 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 99,704 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,125,658.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Patrick F. Smith sold 5,409 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 50,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $552,503.73. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.39% 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.