Meros Investment Management LP Makes New $2.38 Billion Investment in Simulations Plus, Inc. $SLP

Meros Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 130,229 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,384,493,000. Meros Investment Management LP owned 0.64% of Simulations Plus as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SLP. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Simulations Plus by 26.6% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 114,885 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,817,000 after purchasing an additional 24,132 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Simulations Plus by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,493 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $233,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in shares of Simulations Plus in the first quarter valued at approximately $255,000. Woodline Partners LP increased its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 32.1% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 13,239 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 3,220 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 74,325 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 8,103 shares during the period. 78.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Simulations Plus Trading Down 0.1%

Simulations Plus stock opened at $18.39 on Wednesday. Simulations Plus, Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.09 and a 1-year high of $21.01. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.34. The company has a market capitalization of $372.03 million, a P/E ratio of 45.98 and a beta of 1.32.

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 9th. The technology company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.07. Simulations Plus had a net margin of 9.88% and a return on equity of 13.50%. The firm had revenue of $21.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.90 million.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Simulations Plus news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 4,177 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total transaction of $77,023.88. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,202,131 shares in the company, valued at $59,047,295.64. This trade represents a 0.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 19.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SLP. Weiss Ratings raised Simulations Plus from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Simulations Plus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 13th. Craig Hallum cut Simulations Plus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $18.50 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, William Blair downgraded shares of Simulations Plus from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $17.25.

Simulations Plus Company Profile

Simulations Plus, Inc (NASDAQ: SLP) specializes in advanced modeling and simulation software tailored to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and chemical industries. The company’s flagship products include ADMET Predictor, a quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) tool for predicting absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity properties, and GastroPlus, a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling platform for simulating drug absorption and pharmacokinetics.