Strs Ohio Decreases Position in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO)

Strs Ohio trimmed its position in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 112,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 700 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Exponent were worth $9,860,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXPO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Exponent during the fourth quarter worth $51,619,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Exponent by 87.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,057,052 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $104,743,000 after purchasing an additional 493,847 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Exponent by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,685,472 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $401,076,000 after purchasing an additional 408,295 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Exponent by 89.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 594,343 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $50,876,000 after buying an additional 280,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Exponent by 77.7% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 565,156 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,340,000 after buying an additional 247,075 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Exponent

In other Exponent news, insider Eric Guyer sold 3,367 shares of Exponent stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.49, for a total transaction of $264,275.83. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on EXPO. Truist Financial cut 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Exponent from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th.

Exponent Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:EXPO opened at $77.73 on Thursday. Exponent, Inc. has a twelve month low of $64.61 and a twelve month high of $101.65. The stock has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.86 and a beta of 0.68. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $79.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.15.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last announced 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.11 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Exponent’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. Exponent’s payout ratio is 57.44%.

About Exponent

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.