Northern Trust Corp Has $6.59 Million Stock Holdings in Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP)

Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP - Free Report) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 236,373 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 21,453 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 1.18% of Simulations Plus worth $6,592,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,226,262 shares of the technology company's stock worth $62,090,000 after buying an additional 290,414 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in shares of Simulations Plus by 56.6% during 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 during the period. Nicholas Company Inc. acquired a new stake in Simulations Plus in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,418,000. Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Simulations Plus by 59.4% during the 4th quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 289,286 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $8,068,000 after purchasing an additional 107,766 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 210.7% during 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 during the period. 78.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Simulations Plus news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.51, for a total transaction of $670,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,344,157 shares in the company, valued at $112,062,701.07. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 19.40% of the company's stock.

Simulations Plus Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of SLP stock traded up $0.55 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $33.04. 353,098 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 217,071. Simulations Plus, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.01 and a fifty-two week high of $50.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $664.47 million, a P/E ratio of 82.60 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $29.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.39.

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 net margin of 10.97% and a return on equity of 6.84%. The business had revenue of $22.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.93 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.20 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Simulations Plus, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on SLP shares. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Simulations Plus from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Simulations Plus from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Simulations Plus presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.