Exponent, Inc. $EXPO Shares Purchased by New Age Alpha Advisors LLC

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its stake in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 785.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,775 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,978 shares during the quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC’s holdings in Exponent were worth $1,721,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Exponent in the third quarter worth about $29,780,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Exponent by 135.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 580,134 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,308,000 after buying an additional 334,154 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in Exponent by 87,479.8% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 230,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,999,000 after acquiring an additional 230,072 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY boosted its holdings in Exponent by 49.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 501,239 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $37,448,000 after acquiring an additional 166,930 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in Exponent by 1,481.0% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 127,222 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,313,000 after acquiring an additional 119,175 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Stock Performance

Shares of EXPO opened at $57.08 on Thursday. Exponent, Inc. has a one year low of $51.91 and a one year high of $81.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $63.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.06. The company has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.55 and a beta of 0.78.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $166.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $149.53 million. Exponent had a return on equity of 27.94% and a net margin of 18.07%.Exponent’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Exponent, Inc. will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Exponent’s payout ratio is 57.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on EXPO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Exponent from $95.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Exponent from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.50.

Insider Activity at Exponent

In other Exponent news, VP Joseph Rakow sold 2,945 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.66, for a total transaction of $160,973.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.06, for a total transaction of $226,727.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 105,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,688,085.08. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 19,026 shares of company stock valued at $1,148,361. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

About Exponent

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.