First Trust Advisors LP Grows Stake in Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 135.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 580,134 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 334,154 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 1.15% of Exponent worth $40,308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Exponent by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,597,542 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $119,360,000 after purchasing an additional 21,272 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Exponent by 18.3% during the third quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 705,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $48,980,000 after purchasing an additional 109,160 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Exponent by 15.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 645,726 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $48,242,000 after buying an additional 88,350 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Exponent by 25.1% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 638,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,671,000 after buying an additional 128,131 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Exponent in the second quarter valued at $43,752,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Exponent in a research note on Monday, February 9th. William Blair raised shares of Exponent from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Exponent in a research report on Monday, January 26th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $100.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 3,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.15, for a total value of $263,228.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,294,036.65. This trade represents a 4.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP John Pye sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.97, for a total transaction of $303,880.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 25,204 shares in the company, valued at $1,914,747.88. This trade represents a 13.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 12,808 shares of company stock valued at $915,845 over the last 90 days. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Exponent Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EXPO opened at $69.68 on Friday. Exponent, Inc. has a 52-week low of $63.81 and a 52-week high of $84.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.50 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s fifty day moving average is $72.47 and its 200 day moving average is $71.08.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $147.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $128.48 million. Exponent had a return on equity of 25.51% and a net margin of 18.21%.The firm’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.46 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Exponent’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Exponent’s payout ratio is currently 59.62%.

Exponent Company Profile

Exponent, Inc (NASDAQ: EXPO) is an engineering and scientific consulting firm that offers multidisciplinary analysis and advisory services to clients across a range of industries. The company’s expertise spans mechanical, materials and corrosion engineering, civil and structural engineering, electrical engineering, industrial hygiene, toxicology and health sciences, and failure analysis. Exponent provides support for product design, performance evaluation, litigation consulting, and regulatory compliance, helping manufacturers, insurers, law firms and government agencies address complex technical challenges.

Founded in 1967 in Menlo Park, California, Exponent has grown from a small failure-analysis laboratory into a global consulting practice.