KBC Group NV Trims Holdings in Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

KBC Group NV trimmed its stake in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 36.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,439 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 835 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Exponent were worth $108,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Exponent by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,791,747 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $388,419,000 after buying an additional 55,190 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Exponent by 7.6% during the second quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,877,765 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $140,288,000 after acquiring an additional 131,937 shares in the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Exponent by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 596,118 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,442,000 after acquiring an additional 89,334 shares during the period. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA increased its holdings in Exponent by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 312,795 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $23,369,000 after acquiring an additional 2,019 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Exponent by 543.1% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 305,230 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $24,742,000 after purchasing an additional 257,766 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,930 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.82, for a total transaction of $329,422.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 82,753 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,529,555.46. This represents a 5.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 14,735 shares of company stock valued at $1,017,242. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Exponent Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXPO opened at $70.63 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $68.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.32 and a beta of 0.91. Exponent, Inc. has a one year low of $63.81 and a one year high of $101.37.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. Exponent had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 24.19%. The company had revenue of $147.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.78 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 EPS for the current year.

Exponent announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to buy up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Exponent Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Exponent’s payout ratio is 58.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. William Blair raised Exponent from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

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.