Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Invests $4.34 Million in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 48,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,340,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in Exponent by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,942 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in Exponent by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,468 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its position in Exponent by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 2,452 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Exponent by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,421 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Exponent by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,621 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $560,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on EXPO shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Exponent from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Exponent from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd.

Exponent Stock Up 1.3 %

Exponent stock opened at $79.87 on Friday. Exponent, Inc. has a twelve month low of $64.61 and a twelve month high of $101.65. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $79.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $82.40. The company has a market capitalization of $4.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.96 and a beta of 0.68.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The business services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.03). Exponent had a net margin of 18.69% and a return on equity of 28.49%. The company had revenue of $113.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.11 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is an increase from Exponent’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.44%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Eric Guyer sold 3,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.49, for a total transaction of $264,275.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Company Profile

Exponent, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a science and engineering consulting company in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Engineering and Other Scientific, and Environmental and Health. The Engineering and Other Scientific segment provides services in the areas of biomechanics, biomedical engineering and sciences, buildings and structures, civil engineering, construction consulting, data sciences, electrical engineering and computer science, human factors, materials and corrosion engineering, mechanical engineering, polymer science and materials chemistry, thermal sciences, and vehicle engineering.