North Star Investment Management Corp. Makes New Investment in Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP)

North Star Investment Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 53,000 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,300,000. North Star Investment Management Corp. owned about 0.26% of Simulations Plus as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SLP. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Simulations Plus by 7,753.3% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 542,899 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $15,141,000 after buying an additional 535,986 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 56.6% in the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 371,797 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $10,369,000 after acquiring an additional 134,381 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Simulations Plus during the fourth quarter valued at $3,418,000. Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Simulations Plus by 59.4% during the fourth quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 289,286 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $8,068,000 after acquiring an additional 107,766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Simulations Plus by 210.7% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 147,154 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,104,000 after purchasing an additional 99,789 shares in the last quarter. 78.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SLP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Craig Hallum lowered their price target on shares of Simulations Plus from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Simulations Plus from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Simulations Plus from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $41.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.51, for a total transaction of $670,200.00. Following the sale, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 19.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Simulations Plus Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of SLP traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $18.08. The company had a trading volume of 492,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 243,379. Simulations Plus, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.97 and a fifty-two week high of $49.71. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.86. The stock has a market cap of $363.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.66 and a beta of 0.97.

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The technology company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.06. Simulations Plus had a return on equity of 7.86% and a net margin of 9.18%. The firm had revenue of $22.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.93 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.20 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Simulations Plus, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.