Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Boosts Stock Position in Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP - Free Report) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 419,241 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 24,266 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 2.09% of Simulations Plus worth $11,693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Simulations Plus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $719,000. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Simulations Plus by 390.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,473 shares of the technology company's stock worth $911,000 after buying an additional 22,669 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 106.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 47,365 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,517,000 after buying an additional 24,371 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. bought a new stake in shares of Simulations Plus during the 4th quarter worth $330,000. Finally, Tributary Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Simulations Plus by 21.7% during the 4th quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 396,093 shares of the technology company's stock worth $11,047,000 after acquiring an additional 70,526 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.08% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 3,344,157 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $112,062,701.07. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 19.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SLP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Simulations Plus from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. StockNews.com upgraded Simulations Plus from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $50.00.

Simulations Plus Stock Down 3.9%

Shares of SLP traded down $1.19 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $29.53. The company had a trading volume of 30,696 shares, compared to its average volume of 209,656. The firm has a market cap of $593.88 million, a P/E ratio of 73.83 and a beta of 1.10. Simulations Plus, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.01 and a 52-week high of $51.22. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $28.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.24.

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

About Simulations Plus

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.