QSV Equity Investors LLC Buys 17,712 Shares of Simulations Plus, Inc. $SLP

Key Points

• QSV Equity Investors LLC increased its stake in Simulations Plus, Inc. by 51.0% in the first quarter, acquiring an additional 17,712 shares for a total of 52,468 shares valued at approximately $1.29 million.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Simulations Plus, with four analysts rating it as a hold and four as a buy, and the average target price set at $26.50.
• Simulations Plus reported quarterly earnings of $0.45 EPS, exceeding estimates; however, the company's revenue of $20.36 million was below analyst expectations of $22.83 million.

QSV Equity Investors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP - Free Report) by 51.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,468 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 17,712 shares during the quarter. QSV Equity Investors LLC owned about 0.26% of Simulations Plus worth $1,287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. LPL Financial LLC acquired a new position in Simulations Plus during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $230,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Simulations Plus by 210.7% during 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. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in Simulations Plus by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 41,161 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,148,000 after purchasing an additional 5,704 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Simulations Plus by 46.0% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 45,100 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,258,000 after purchasing an additional 14,200 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Simulations Plus by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 29,229 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $815,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.08% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SLP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Simulations Plus from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Zacks Research raised shares of Simulations Plus to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Stephens cut their price objective on shares of Simulations Plus from $28.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $26.50.

Simulations Plus Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ SLP opened at $14.24 on Monday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $16.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.43. Simulations Plus, Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.39 and a 1 year high of $37.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $286.65 million, a P/E ratio of -4.52 and a beta of 0.76.

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 14th. The technology company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.19. Simulations Plus had a negative net margin of 78.63% and a positive return on equity of 11.62%. The firm had revenue of $20.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate 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.

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