Simulations Plus, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.06 (NASDAQ:SLP)

Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLP) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 2nd, NASDAQ reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th will be given a dividend of 0.06 per share by the technology company on Monday, August 5th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 29th.

Simulations Plus has a dividend payout ratio of 30.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Simulations Plus to earn $0.72 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.3%.

Simulations Plus Price Performance

Shares of SLP traded down $6.97 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 340,695 shares, compared to its average volume of 104,824. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $47.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $797.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.26 and a beta of 0.72. Simulations Plus has a fifty-two week low of $32.69 and a fifty-two week high of $52.69.

Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 2nd. The technology company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $18.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.92 million. Simulations Plus had a net margin of 16.22% and a return on equity of 7.95%. The business’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Simulations Plus will post 0.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of Simulations Plus stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.71, for a total value of $934,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,540,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165,393,430.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Walter S. Woltosz sold 20,000 shares of Simulations Plus stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.71, for a total value of $934,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,540,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165,393,430.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel L. Weiner sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.32, for a total transaction of $36,990.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $345,683.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 44,500 shares of company stock valued at $2,072,198 over the last 90 days. 20.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on SLP. Craig Hallum reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $56.00 target price on shares of Simulations Plus in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Simulations Plus from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, William Blair began coverage on shares of Simulations Plus in a report on Friday, June 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company.

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.