Shares of Certara, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERT) plummeted to a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Saturday, following a downgrade by Barclays. The investment bank reduced its price target on the stock from $16.00 to $14.00, although it maintains an overweight rating on the shares. Certara’s stock dipped as low as $8.47 before closing at $8.67, with a trading volume of approximately 9,104,388 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.27.
Analysts have been reassessing Certara’s outlook recently. UBS Group lowered its price target from $17.50 to $15.00 while assigning a “buy” rating on August 7. Similarly, Zacks Research upgraded its rating from “strong sell” to “hold” on September 5. In contrast, Weiss Ratings assigned a “sell (d)” rating on October 8, while KeyCorp increased its target price from $15.00 to $16.00 on the same day, also maintaining an “overweight” rating. Craig Hallum began coverage of Certara on September 29, setting a “buy” rating with a price target of $16.00.
Currently, six research analysts classify the stock as a “buy,” five recommend holding, and one advises selling. According to data from MarketBeat, Certara holds an average rating of “hold” with an average target price of $15.38.
Institutional Investors Adjust Holdings
Several institutional investors have recently altered their stakes in Certara. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its holdings by 45.7% during the second quarter, now owning 13,532,882 shares valued at $158,335,000 after acquiring an additional 4,244,230 shares. Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its stake by 7.8%, holding 6,114,895 shares worth $71,544,000 after purchasing an additional 443,206 shares.
The Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position by 25.3%, owning 5,674,485 shares valued at $66,391,000, while Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake by 27.1%, owning 5,460,630 shares worth $63,889,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp. also increased its stake by 47.7%, now holding 2,648,549 shares valued at $30,988,000. Notably, institutional investors and hedge funds own approximately 73.96% of Certara’s stock.
Financial Overview and Future Outlook
Certara’s financial performance reflects a mixed outlook. The company reported a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, with a quick ratio and current ratio both at 2.09. Its market capitalization stands at $1.39 billion, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 123.86 and a beta of 1.44. The 50-day moving average price is $11.77, while the 200-day moving average is $11.47.
The company announced its quarterly earnings on November 6, reporting $0.14 earnings per share, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.03. Certara achieved a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 5.18%, with revenue of $104.62 million for the quarter, slightly exceeding analyst expectations of $104.53 million. For fiscal year 2025, Certara has set earnings guidance at $0.450-0.470 per share, with analysts projecting an average of $0.28 earnings per share for the current year.
Founded to provide software products and technology-enabled services for biosimulation in drug discovery, preclinical and clinical research, Certara serves clients both in the United States and internationally. Its solutions support model-informed drug development and biosimulation, predicting pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.
As the market continues to react to these developments, investors will be closely monitoring Certara’s performance and the implications of recent analyst ratings.
