Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP) by 2.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 93,346 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,169 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Simulations Plus were worth $2,289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of SLP. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Simulations Plus by 33.8% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,485 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in Simulations Plus by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,103 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $254,000 after buying an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. boosted its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 7,310 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Simulations Plus by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 29,229 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $815,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Simulations Plus by 42.2% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,575 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s 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 owned 3,344,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $112,062,701.07. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 19.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on SLP shares. Craig Hallum decreased their price objective on Simulations Plus from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 13th. KeyCorp cut shares of Simulations Plus from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Simulations Plus from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Stephens reduced 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. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a research note on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.50.

Simulations Plus Stock Performance

Shares of Simulations Plus stock opened at $12.46 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $250.82 million, a PE ratio of -3.96 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.97. Simulations Plus, Inc. has a one year low of $12.39 and a one year high of $42.11.

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 14th. The technology company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $20.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.83 million. Simulations Plus had a negative net margin of 78.63% and a positive return on equity of 11.62%. Simulations Plus’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Simulations Plus, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Simulations Plus 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.