Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 84,562 Shares of Simulations Plus, Inc. $SLP

Key Points

• Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Simulations Plus, Inc. by 141.8% in the first quarter, owning approximately 0.72% of the company, worth about $3.54 million.
• Simulations Plus recently reported a quarterly EPS of $0.45, exceeding analyst estimates, but faced a negative net margin of 78.63% despite 9.8% revenue growth year-on-year.
• A mix of institutional investors have recently altered their positions in Simulations Plus, with 78.08% of its stock currently owned by institutions and hedge funds.

Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP - Free Report) by 141.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 144,202 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 84,562 shares during the quarter. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. owned about 0.72% of Simulations Plus worth $3,536,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC boosted its stake in Simulations Plus by 15.9% in the 1st quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 106,082 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,601,000 after buying an additional 14,582 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Simulations Plus by 20,727.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 17,703 shares of the technology company's stock worth $434,000 after acquiring an additional 17,618 shares during the last quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Simulations Plus during the first quarter worth $1,300,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 53,332 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,487,000 after purchasing an additional 26,661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of Simulations Plus in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,458,000. Institutional investors own 78.08% of the company's stock.

Simulations Plus Price Performance

SLP stock traded down $0.27 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $13.89. 597,607 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 431,437. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $14.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.93. Simulations Plus, Inc. has a 12 month low of $12.39 and a 12 month high of $37.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $279.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.41 and a beta of 0.85.

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 14th. The technology company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.19. Simulations Plus had a positive return on equity of 11.62% and a negative net margin of 78.63%.The company had revenue of $20.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. Simulations Plus's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Simulations Plus, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on SLP shares. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Stephens cut their price target on shares of Simulations Plus from $28.00 to $20.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Simulations Plus from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. BTIG Research lowered their price objective on Simulations Plus from $41.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Simulations Plus to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $26.50.

Simulations Plus Company 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.