BlackRock Inc. Makes New Investment in Simulations Plus, Inc. $SLP

Key Points

• BlackRock acquired 1.5 million shares of Simulations Plus during the second quarter, worth approximately $27.5 million and representing about 7.43% of the company. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 78.08% of SLP.
• Analyst sentiment has weakened, with several firms downgrading the stock to “Hold” or “Market Perform.” Seven analysts rate SLP a Hold and one rates it a Sell, producing a consensus “Reduce” rating and a $17.25 target price.
• Simulations Plus exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.30 in adjusted earnings per share versus the $0.23 consensus and revenue of $21.89 million versus $20.90 million expected. Shares opened at $18.43, while director Walter S. Woltosz sold 4,177 shares under a pre-arranged trading plan.

BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,502,099 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $27,503,000. BlackRock Inc. owned about 7.43% of Simulations Plus as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SLP. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Simulations Plus by 26.6% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 114,885 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,817,000 after acquiring an additional 24,132 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Simulations Plus by 4.3% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,493 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Simulations Plus during the 1st quarter worth approximately $255,000. Woodline Partners LP raised its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 32.1% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 13,239 shares of the technology company's stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 3,220 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Simulations Plus by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 74,325 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 8,103 shares during the last quarter. 78.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SLP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. William Blair lowered Simulations Plus from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Simulations Plus from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen cut Simulations Plus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 13th. Finally, Craig Hallum lowered shares of Simulations Plus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $18.50 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $17.25.

Insider Activity at Simulations Plus

In other news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 4,177 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total value of $77,023.88. Following the sale, the director owned 3,202,131 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $59,047,295.64. The trade was a 0.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 19.10% of the company's stock.

Simulations Plus Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:SLP opened at $18.43 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $18.32 and a 200-day moving average of $15.54. The firm has a market cap of $372.84 million, a P/E ratio of 46.07 and a beta of 1.33. Simulations Plus, Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.09 and a twelve month high of $21.01.

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 9th. The technology company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $21.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.90 million. Simulations Plus had a net margin of 9.88% and a return on equity of 13.50%.

Simulations Plus 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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