Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP)

Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 3,557 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,414% compared to the average volume of 235 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Simulations Plus from $28.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Craig Hallum dropped their price objective on shares of Simulations Plus from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 13th. BTIG Research cut their target price on shares of Simulations Plus from $41.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Simulations Plus from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.50.

Insider Activity at Simulations Plus

In other news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of Simulations Plus stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.51, for a total value of $670,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 19.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Simulations Plus

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SLP. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 53.6% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,223 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 427 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Simulations Plus in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 33.8% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,485 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in Simulations Plus by 42.2% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,575 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 2,243 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.08% of the company’s stock.

Simulations Plus Stock Performance

SLP stock opened at $12.91 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $23.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $259.62 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.10 and a beta of 0.83. Simulations Plus has a fifty-two week low of $12.85 and a fifty-two week high of $44.27.

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 14th. The technology company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.19. Simulations Plus had a negative net margin of 78.63% and a positive return on equity of 10.65%. The company had revenue of $20.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Simulations Plus 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.