Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $25.74, but opened at $28.68. Simulations Plus shares last traded at $30.82, with a volume of 250,693 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on SLP shares. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Simulations Plus from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Simulations Plus from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.40.

Simulations Plus Trading Up 18.7 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $614.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.29 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $28.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.02.

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The technology company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.06. Simulations Plus had a net margin of 10.97% and a return on equity of 6.84%. The firm had revenue of $22.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.93 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. Simulations Plus’s revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Simulations Plus, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Simulations Plus

In other news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of Simulations Plus stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.91, for a total transaction of $678,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,402,584 shares in the company, valued at $115,381,623.44. This trade represents a 0.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 19.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Simulations Plus

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Simulations Plus by 53.6% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,223 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 427 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Simulations Plus in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Simulations Plus by 42.2% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,575 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 764 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in Simulations Plus by 502.9% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,689 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 2,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Simulations Plus in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $86,000. 78.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.