D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its position in Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP - Free Report) by 100.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 53,332 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 26,661 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.27% of Simulations Plus worth $1,487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Simulations Plus by 53.6% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,223 shares of the technology company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 427 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co. boosted its holdings in Simulations Plus by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 7,310 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,687 shares of the technology company's stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 29,229 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $815,000 after buying an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Simulations Plus by 42.2% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,575 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 764 shares during the period. 78.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Simulations Plus news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.51, for a total transaction of $670,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,344,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $112,062,701.07. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 19.40% of the company's stock.

Simulations Plus Price Performance

Shares of SLP stock traded up $0.04 on Wednesday, reaching $32.27. 10,973 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 216,936. The company has a 50-day moving average of $29.97 and a 200-day moving average of $30.42. The company has a market cap of $648.94 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.26 and a beta of 1.10. Simulations Plus, Inc. has a one year low of $23.01 and a one year high of $50.11.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on SLP shares. Wall Street Zen raised Simulations Plus from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Simulations Plus from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Simulations Plus has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $50.00.

Simulations Plus 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.