North Star Investment Management Corp. Buys Shares of 53,000 Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP)

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

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SLP. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Simulations Plus by 7,753.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP grew its position in 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. purchased a new stake in shares of Simulations Plus during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,418,000. Kennedy Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 worth $8,068,000 after purchasing an additional 107,766 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Simulations Plus by 210.7% in the fourth 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 during the period. 78.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Simulations Plus

In other news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of Simulations Plus stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 3,344,157 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $112,062,701.07. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 19.40% of the company's stock.

Simulations Plus Stock Down 4.9%

Shares of SLP stock opened at $19.07 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $383.52 million, a P/E ratio of 47.68 and a beta of 0.97. Simulations Plus, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.66 and a fifty-two week high of $49.71.

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The technology company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.06. Simulations Plus had a net margin of 10.97% and a return on equity of 6.84%. The company had revenue of $22.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.93 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.20 EPS. Simulations Plus's revenue was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Simulations Plus, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Simulations Plus from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Simulations Plus from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Craig Hallum decreased their target price on Simulations Plus from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Simulations Plus has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.25.

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.

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