Norges Bank Purchases New Holdings in Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Norges Bank acquired a new position in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 736,619 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $51,166,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXPO. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Exponent in the third quarter valued at $29,780,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Exponent by 135.8% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP raised its position in Exponent by 73.8% during the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 652,109 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $45,295,000 after buying an additional 276,889 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in Exponent by 87,479.8% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 230,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,999,000 after buying an additional 230,072 shares during the period. Finally, Bamco Inc. NY boosted its position in Exponent by 49.9% during 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. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In other Exponent news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,194 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.06, for a total value of $226,727.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 105,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,688,085.08. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Bradley A. James sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.47, for a total transaction of $114,940.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 1,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,504.35. This trade represents a 64.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,026 shares of company stock valued at $1,148,361. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on EXPO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on 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 restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Exponent in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.50.

Exponent Price Performance

Shares of EXPO stock opened at $59.66 on Monday. Exponent, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.91 and a fifty-two week high of $81.95. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $62.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.51. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.75 and a beta of 0.72.

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

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Exponent’s payout ratio is 57.67%.

Exponent 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.