Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Purchases 904 Shares of Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its position in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 904 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Exponent were worth $974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXPO. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Exponent by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,791,747 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $388,419,000 after purchasing an additional 55,190 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Exponent by 7.6% in the second quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,877,765 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $140,288,000 after buying an additional 131,937 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Exponent by 1.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,597,542 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $119,360,000 after buying an additional 21,272 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Exponent by 17.6% in the second quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 596,118 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,442,000 after acquiring an additional 89,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA grew its holdings in Exponent by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 312,795 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $23,369,000 after acquiring an additional 2,019 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. William Blair raised Exponent from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,930 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.82, for a total value of $329,422.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 82,753 shares in the company, valued at $5,529,555.46. This represents a 5.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 14,735 shares of company stock valued at $1,017,242 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Trading Up 3.0%

Shares of Exponent stock opened at $70.63 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.18. The company has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a PE ratio of 35.32 and a beta of 0.91. Exponent, Inc. has a 12 month low of $63.81 and a 12 month high of $101.37.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $147.12 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.78 million. Exponent had a return on equity of 24.19% and a net margin of 18.35%.The company’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.54%.

Exponent announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Exponent 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.