Rhumbline Advisers Trims Stake in Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Rhumbline Advisers cut its position in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 10.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 170,985 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 19,156 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.34% of Exponent worth $11,880,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Exponent during the 3rd quarter valued at $427,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its position in shares of Exponent by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 90,658 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,299,000 after acquiring an additional 28,629 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in Exponent by 157.3% during the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 36,813 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,558,000 after purchasing an additional 22,503 shares in the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Exponent by 18.3% during the third quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 705,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $48,980,000 after purchasing an additional 109,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Exponent by 25.1% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 638,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,671,000 after purchasing an additional 128,131 shares during the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on EXPO. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Exponent in a research report on Monday, February 9th. William Blair raised shares of Exponent from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Exponent in a research report on Monday, January 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $100.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In other news, VP John Pye sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.97, for a total value of $303,880.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 25,204 shares in the company, valued at $1,914,747.88. This represents a 13.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 3,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.15, for a total transaction of $263,228.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 93,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,294,036.65. This represents a 4.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 12,808 shares of company stock worth $915,845 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Price Performance

Shares of EXPO opened at $70.07 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $72.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.98. Exponent, Inc. has a 1-year low of $63.81 and a 1-year high of $87.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a PE ratio of 33.69 and a beta of 0.79.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. Exponent had a return on equity of 25.51% and a net margin of 18.21%.The company had revenue of $147.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $128.48 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Exponent’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.69%.

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

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.