Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Stephens

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

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com downgraded Simulations Plus from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. BTIG Research cut 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. Finally, KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Simulations Plus in a research report on Monday, July 29th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.40.

Simulations Plus Stock Down 3.2 %

SLP stock traded down $0.94 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $28.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 231,167 shares, compared to its average volume of 134,624. Simulations Plus has a 52 week low of $27.22 and a 52 week high of $51.22. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.93. The stock has a market cap of $577.41 million, a PE 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $18.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.73 million. Simulations Plus had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 14.15%. Simulations Plus’s revenue was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Simulations Plus will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Simulations Plus news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.26, for a total value of $625,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,481,592 shares in the company, valued at $108,834,565.92. This represents a 0.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 60,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,905,655 in the last three months. 20.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Simulations Plus

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Simulations Plus by 4.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 448,618 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,367,000 after acquiring an additional 18,924 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Simulations Plus by 390.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,473 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $911,000 after purchasing an additional 22,669 shares during the period. First National Bank of Omaha grew its holdings in Simulations Plus by 56.1% in the 3rd quarter. First National Bank of Omaha now owns 9,704 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $311,000 after buying an additional 3,488 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Simulations Plus by 4.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 640,303 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $20,503,000 after buying an additional 28,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Petrus Trust Company LTA bought a new stake in shares of Simulations Plus in the third quarter valued at about $682,000. 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.