Joseph Rakow Sells 2,945 Shares of Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) Stock

Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) VP Joseph Rakow sold 2,945 shares of Exponent stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.66, for a total value of $160,973.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Exponent Price Performance

NASDAQ EXPO opened at $53.67 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96 and a beta of 0.78. Exponent, Inc. has a one year low of $51.91 and a one year high of $81.95. The business’s fifty day moving average is $66.10 and its 200-day moving average is $69.85.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $166.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $149.53 million. Exponent had a return on equity of 27.94% and a net margin of 18.07%.The business’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 posted $0.52 EPS. Research analysts expect that Exponent, Inc. will post 2.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Exponent’s payout ratio is presently 57.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exponent

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bell Investment Advisors Inc raised its stake in Exponent by 423.6% in the 1st quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Exponent by 97.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 396 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Exponent in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Exponent by 86.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 469 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the period. Finally, Winnow Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Exponent in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on EXPO. UBS Group lowered their target price on Exponent from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Exponent from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.00.

Exponent Company 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.