Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Reduce" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts assign Simulations Plus a consensus “Reduce” rating: Eight firms cover the stock, with one sell and seven hold ratings. The average 12-month price target is $17.25, below the recent price of $18.39.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting earnings per share of $0.30 versus the $0.23 consensus estimate and revenue of $21.89 million versus $20.90 million expected.
• Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 4,177 shares for approximately $77,000 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Insiders own 19.10% of the company, while institutional investors and hedge funds hold 78.08%.

Shares of Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Reduce" from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and seven have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $17.25.

A number of research firms recently commented on SLP. Wall Street Zen downgraded Simulations Plus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 13th. Craig Hallum cut Simulations Plus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $18.50 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. William Blair downgraded Simulations Plus from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Simulations Plus from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th.

Simulations Plus Price Performance

NASDAQ SLP opened at $18.39 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $372.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.98 and a beta of 1.32. Simulations Plus has a 12 month low of $11.09 and a 12 month high of $21.01. The company's fifty day moving average price is $18.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.42.

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 9th. The technology company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $21.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.90 million. Simulations Plus had a net margin of 9.88% and a return on equity of 13.50%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 4,177 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total transaction of $77,023.88. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,202,131 shares in the company, valued at $59,047,295.64. This trade represents a 0.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 19.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Simulations Plus

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SLP. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Simulations Plus in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Simulations Plus during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Simulations Plus by 26.0% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,831 shares of the technology company's stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 585 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Simulations Plus by 59.3% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,485 shares of the technology company's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 1,669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new position in Simulations Plus in the first quarter valued at approximately $54,000. 78.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Simulations Plus Company Profile

Simulations Plus, Inc NASDAQ: SLP specializes in advanced modeling and simulation software tailored to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and chemical industries. The company's flagship products include ADMET Predictor, a quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) tool for predicting absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity properties, and GastroPlus, a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling platform for simulating drug absorption and pharmacokinetics.

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