Short Interest in Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP) Rises By 29.1%

Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,420,000 shares, an increase of 29.1% from the December 31st total of 1,100,000 shares. Currently, 8.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 251,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of Simulations Plus stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.76, for a total transaction of $635,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,442,584 shares in the company, valued at $109,336,467.84. The trade was a 0.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 19.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SLP. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC lifted its position in Simulations Plus by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 91,500 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,552,000 after purchasing an additional 14,871 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Simulations Plus by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 91,177 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,543,000 after acquiring an additional 3,904 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR acquired a new stake in shares of Simulations Plus during the 4th quarter valued at about $905,000. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Simulations Plus by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,226,262 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $62,090,000 after acquiring an additional 290,414 shares during the period. Finally, Cook Wealth LLC raised its position in Simulations Plus by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Cook Wealth LLC now owns 12,386 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,984 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.08% of the company’s stock.

Simulations Plus Price Performance

SLP stock traded down $0.17 on Monday, reaching $34.15. 114,815 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 308,159. The firm has a market capitalization of $685.99 million, a PE ratio of 85.37 and a beta of 0.82. Simulations Plus has a 12 month low of $24.00 and a 12 month high of $51.22. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $30.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.50.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SLP has been the topic of several analyst reports. BTIG Research dropped their price target on shares of Simulations Plus from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Simulations Plus from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Simulations Plus in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered Simulations Plus from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on Simulations Plus in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Simulations Plus has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.40.

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.