Quantinno Capital Management LP Boosts Stock Holdings in Simulations Plus, Inc. $SLP

Key Points

• Quantinno Capital Management increased its Simulations Plus stake by 439.1% in the first quarter, reaching 112,259 shares worth approximately $1.33 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 78.08% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: seven analysts rate the stock Hold and one rates it Sell, resulting in an average “Reduce” rating and a $17.25 price target.
• Simulations Plus exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting adjusted EPS of $0.30 versus a $0.23 consensus and revenue of $21.89 million versus $20.90 million expected. Shares opened at $18.31, while director Walter S. Woltosz sold 4,177 shares under a pre-arranged trading plan.

Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP - Free Report) by 439.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 112,259 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 91,434 shares during the quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP owned about 0.56% of Simulations Plus worth $1,327,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SLP. First Light Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Simulations Plus by 33.7% in the first quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 2,632,823 shares of the technology company's stock worth $31,120,000 after buying an additional 663,906 shares in the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC grew its stake in Simulations Plus by 44.8% during the 1st quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 101,598 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,201,000 after acquiring an additional 31,413 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Simulations Plus by 807.5% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 181,500 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,145,000 after acquiring an additional 161,500 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its holdings in Simulations Plus by 44.6% in the 1st quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 47,435 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 14,636 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Simulations Plus by 59.3% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,485 shares of the technology company's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 1,669 shares during the last quarter. 78.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on SLP. William Blair downgraded Simulations Plus from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Weiss Ratings raised Simulations Plus from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Craig Hallum lowered Simulations Plus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $18.50 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Simulations Plus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $17.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Simulations Plus news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 4,177 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total value of $77,023.88. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,202,131 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $59,047,295.64. This represents a 0.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 19.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Simulations Plus Price Performance

Shares of SLP opened at $18.31 on Friday. Simulations Plus, Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.09 and a 1-year high of $21.01. The stock has a market cap of $370.41 million, a PE ratio of 45.77 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.29.

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

About Simulations Plus

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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