Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 2,226 Shares of Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP) by 2.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 87,273 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,226 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.44% of Simulations Plus worth $2,794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Simulations Plus by 1,100.0% in the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Simulations Plus in the 1st quarter valued at about $57,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Simulations Plus during the 2nd quarter valued at about $206,000. Arizona State Retirement System acquired a new position in Simulations Plus during the 2nd quarter valued at about $218,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Simulations Plus by 37.0% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,974 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343 shares in the last quarter. 78.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on SLP shares. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Simulations Plus in a research report on Monday, July 29th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $47.00 target price on the stock. BTIG Research cut their price objective on shares of Simulations Plus from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Simulations Plus from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Stephens started coverage on shares of Simulations Plus in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.40.

Simulations Plus Price Performance

NASDAQ SLP opened at $31.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $628.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.14 and a beta of 0.71. The business’s fifty day moving average is $30.82 and its 200-day moving average is $38.43. Simulations Plus, Inc. has a one year low of $27.07 and a one year high of $51.22.

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.02. Simulations Plus had a net margin of 14.15% and a return on equity of 6.16%. The firm had revenue of $18.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.73 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.18 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Simulations Plus, Inc. will post 1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Simulations Plus

In other Simulations Plus news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.26, for a total transaction of $625,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,481,592 shares in the company, valued at $108,834,565.92. This trade represents a 0.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 60,750 shares of company stock worth $1,905,655. Insiders own 20.90% of the company’s stock.

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.