160,212 Shares in Exponent, Inc. $EXPO Bought by Man Group plc

Man Group plc acquired a new stake in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 160,212 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,414,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of EXPO. Bell Investment Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in Exponent by 423.6% during the 1st quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 377 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Exponent in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Exponent by 86.1% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 469 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Exponent by 37.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 717 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Exponent by 129.0% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 907 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on EXPO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Exponent from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group set a $72.00 price target on shares of Exponent and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

Insider Activity

In other Exponent news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,119 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $235,318.47. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 106,670 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,094,057.10. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of Exponent stock opened at $71.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.08 and a beta of 0.68. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $64.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.53. Exponent, Inc. has a 1-year low of $51.91 and a 1-year high of $81.95.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. Exponent had a return on equity of 31.48% and a net margin of 17.67%.The company had revenue of $171.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Exponent, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Exponent’s payout ratio is 55.61%.

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.