Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Acquires 24,266 Shares of Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP - Free Report) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 419,241 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 24,266 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 2.09% of Simulations Plus worth $11,693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,223 shares of the technology company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 427 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in shares of Simulations Plus by 502.9% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,689 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 2,243 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in Simulations Plus in the 4th quarter worth about $86,000. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 191.6% during the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 5,371 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $150,000 after purchasing an additional 3,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,687 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $159,000 after acquiring an additional 713 shares during the period. 78.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.51, for a total value of $670,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,344,157 shares in the company, valued at $112,062,701.07. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 19.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Simulations Plus Price Performance

NASDAQ:SLP traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $31.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 229,173 shares, compared to its average volume of 209,391. Simulations Plus, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.01 and a fifty-two week high of $51.22. The firm has a market cap of $625.45 million, a P/E ratio of 77.75 and a beta of 1.10. The firm's 50 day moving average is $28.80 and its 200-day moving average is $30.23.

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 3rd. The technology company reported $0.31 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $21.93 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.20 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Simulations Plus, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on SLP. StockNews.com upgraded Simulations Plus from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Simulations Plus from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Simulations Plus currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $50.00.

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.