Stephens Upgrades Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) to Strong-Buy

Stephens upgraded shares of Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Simulations Plus from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. BTIG Research cut their target price 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 assumed coverage on shares of Simulations Plus in a research note on Monday, July 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $47.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.40.

Simulations Plus Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SLP opened at $28.77 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $31.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.93. The company has a market cap of $577.33 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.71 and a beta of 0.71. Simulations Plus has a 12 month low of $27.22 and a 12 month high of $51.22.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total value of $703,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,501,592 shares in the company, valued at $123,186,006.56. This represents a 0.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 60,750 shares of company stock worth $1,905,655. Corporate insiders own 20.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Simulations Plus

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Simulations Plus in the first quarter worth about $70,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Simulations Plus by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 14,143 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $582,000 after acquiring an additional 1,174 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in Simulations Plus in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Simulations Plus by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,135,105 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,710,000 after purchasing an additional 12,636 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Simulations Plus during the 1st quarter valued at $57,000. 78.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Simulations Plus

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.