Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP) Receives $51.40 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Buy" by the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $51.40.

SLP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Simulations Plus from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Stephens initiated coverage on Simulations Plus in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. BTIG Research dropped their price objective on Simulations Plus from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of Simulations Plus stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.76, for a total transaction of $635,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,442,584 shares in the company, valued at $109,336,467.84. The trade was a 0.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 19.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Simulations Plus

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Simulations Plus by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 222,317 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $10,809,000 after buying an additional 11,048 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Simulations Plus in the second quarter worth approximately $218,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Simulations Plus in the second quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its position in Simulations Plus by 10.5% during the second quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 18,025 shares of the technology company's stock worth $876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Simulations Plus by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 54,813 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,665,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.08% of the company's stock.

Simulations Plus Trading Up 4.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SLP traded up $1.29 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $30.39. The stock had a trading volume of 523,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 317,796. Simulations Plus has a 1 year low of $27.07 and a 1 year high of $51.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $29.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.16. The company has a market capitalization of $610.38 million, a PE ratio of 62.02 and a beta of 0.80.

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $18.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.73 million. Simulations Plus had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 14.15%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 19.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.18 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Simulations Plus will post 1.1 EPS for the current year.

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.