Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys New Position in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 14,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,250,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Exponent in the third quarter worth $39,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Exponent by 157.7% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 915 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Exponent by 24.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,474 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of Exponent by 10.5% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,468 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of Exponent by 6.7% in the third quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 2,452 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In other Exponent news, insider Eric Guyer sold 3,367 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.49, for a total value of $264,275.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Exponent Price Performance

Exponent stock opened at $79.65 on Tuesday. Exponent, Inc. has a one year low of $64.61 and a one year high of $101.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a PE ratio of 40.85 and a beta of 0.68. The business’s fifty day moving average is $79.35 and its 200 day moving average is $81.98.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The business services provider reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.03). Exponent had a net margin of 18.69% and a return on equity of 28.49%. The business had revenue of $113.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.11 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.44 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from Exponent’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial cut their target price on Exponent from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com raised Exponent from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th.

Exponent Company 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.