Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP) has received an average rating of “Reduce” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and seven have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $17.25.

A number of analysts have issued reports on SLP shares. Weiss Ratings raised Simulations Plus from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Craig Hallum downgraded Simulations Plus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $18.50 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen lowered Simulations Plus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 13th. Finally, William Blair cut Simulations Plus from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th.

Simulations Plus Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:SLP opened at $18.43 on Monday. Simulations Plus has a 52 week low of $11.09 and a 52 week high of $21.01. The company’s 50 day moving average is $18.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.60. The company has a market cap of $372.84 million, a PE ratio of 46.07 and a beta of 1.33.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Simulations Plus

In other news, Director Walter Woltosz sold 4,177 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total transaction of $77,023.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,202,131 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,047,295.64. The trade was a 0.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 19.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Simulations Plus

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SLP. First Light Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Simulations Plus by 33.7% in the first quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 2,632,823 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,120,000 after acquiring an additional 663,906 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Simulations Plus during the second quarter worth about $27,503,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Simulations Plus by 25.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 875,447 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,277,000 after purchasing an additional 176,747 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Simulations Plus by 127.5% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 569,783 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,387,000 after purchasing an additional 319,301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 30.8% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 513,728 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,365,000 after purchasing an additional 120,888 shares during the period. 78.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Simulations Plus

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.