Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) Reaches New 1-Year Low After Analyst Downgrade

Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday after KeyCorp lowered their price target on the stock from $40.00 to $35.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Simulations Plus traded as low as $26.51 and last traded at $26.51, with a volume of 24606 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.39.

SLP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Stephens started coverage on shares of Simulations Plus in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $39.00 price target for the company. BTIG Research cut their price target on Simulations Plus from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Simulations Plus from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owns 3,462,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,775,073.44. This represents 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 at this hyperlink. 19.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Simulations Plus

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Simulations Plus by 82.6% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 818 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Simulations Plus by 1,100.0% in the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Simulations Plus during the third quarter worth about $59,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Simulations Plus by 37.0% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,974 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $159,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Simulations Plus in the second quarter valued at approximately $206,000. 78.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Simulations Plus Stock Down 7.2 %

The company has a market capitalization of $566.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.57 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.96.

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $18.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.73 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.18 EPS. Simulations Plus’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Simulations Plus, Inc. 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.