Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) Trading Up 7.8% – Should You Buy?

Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP)’s share price shot up 7.8% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $32.59 and last traded at $32.38. 191,068 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 40% from the average session volume of 136,422 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.04.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered Simulations Plus from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Stephens began coverage on shares of Simulations Plus in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $39.00 target price on the stock. BTIG Research reduced their price target on shares of Simulations Plus from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company 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. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.40.

Simulations Plus Stock Up 4.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $628.59 million, a PE ratio of 63.92 and a beta of 0.71. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $30.80 and its 200 day moving average is $38.31.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Simulations Plus news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of Simulations Plus stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.66, for a total value of $553,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,462,584 shares in the company, valued at $95,775,073.44. The trade was a 0.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 60,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,905,655 in the last three months. Insiders own 20.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Barclays PLC increased its position in Simulations Plus by 390.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,473 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $911,000 after buying an additional 22,669 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Simulations Plus by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 448,618 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,367,000 after acquiring an additional 18,924 shares in the last quarter. First National Bank of Omaha raised its stake in shares of Simulations Plus by 56.1% in the 3rd quarter. First National Bank of Omaha now owns 9,704 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 3,488 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Simulations Plus by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 640,303 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,503,000 after acquiring an additional 28,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Petrus Trust Company LTA acquired a new stake in Simulations Plus in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $682,000. 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.