Stephens Initiates Coverage on Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP)

Research analysts at Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $39.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Stephens’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 31.27% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on SLP. BTIG Research dropped their target price on Simulations Plus from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp assumed 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 on the stock. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Simulations Plus from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.40.

Simulations Plus Stock Down 6.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SLP opened at $29.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $596.28 million, a P/E ratio of 60.63 and a beta of 0.71. The company’s fifty day moving average is $31.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.11. Simulations Plus has a 12-month low of $27.22 and a 12-month high of $51.22.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction of $625,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,481,592 shares in the company, valued at $108,834,565.92. The trade was a 0.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 60,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,905,655. Company insiders own 20.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Simulations Plus

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SLP. Tributary Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Simulations Plus by 54.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 325,567 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,425,000 after acquiring an additional 115,122 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Simulations Plus in the first quarter valued at $4,717,000. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in Simulations Plus by 28.8% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 237,416 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,602,000 after purchasing an additional 53,092 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Simulations Plus by 10.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 414,005 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $20,128,000 after buying an additional 37,992 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. increased its holdings in Simulations Plus by 22.5% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 206,542 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,613,000 after buying an additional 37,914 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.