Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) Raised to Strong-Buy at Stephens

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) was upgraded by analysts at Stephens to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also commented on SLP. BTIG Research dropped their price target on shares of Simulations Plus from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Simulations Plus from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Simulations Plus in a report on Monday, July 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Simulations Plus currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.40.

Simulations Plus Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SLP opened at $28.77 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $31.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.04. Simulations Plus has a 52 week low of $27.22 and a 52 week high of $51.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $577.41 million, a P/E ratio of 58.72 and a beta of 0.71.

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.02. Simulations Plus had a net margin of 14.15% and a return on equity of 6.16%. The company had revenue of $18.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.73 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.18 earnings per share. Simulations Plus’s revenue was up 19.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Simulations Plus will post 1.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total transaction of $703,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,501,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $123,186,006.56. This trade represents a 0.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 60,750 shares of company stock worth $1,905,655. Corporate insiders own 20.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Simulations Plus

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLP. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Simulations Plus by 82.6% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 818 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its stake in Simulations Plus by 1,100.0% in the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Simulations Plus in the 1st quarter worth approximately $57,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Simulations Plus in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Simulations Plus in the 1st quarter worth approximately $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.08% of the company’s stock.

Simulations Plus Company Profile

Simulations Plus, Inc develops drug discovery and development software for modeling and simulation, and prediction of molecular properties utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning based technology worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Software and Services. It offers GastroPlus, which simulates the absorption and drug interaction of compounds administered to humans and animals; and DDDPlus and MembranePlus simulation products.