JPMorgan Chase & Co. Initiates Coverage on Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set an “overweight” rating and a $100.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 33.92% from the stock’s current price.

EXPO has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $81.00 target price (up from $76.00) on shares of Exponent in a report on Monday, December 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Exponent from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Exponent has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.50.

Exponent Price Performance

NASDAQ EXPO opened at $74.67 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $72.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.98. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a PE ratio of 36.42 and a beta of 0.81. Exponent has a 1 year low of $63.81 and a 1 year high of $97.57.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $147.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.78 million. Exponent had a return on equity of 24.77% and a net margin of 18.35%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Exponent will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Exponent declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to buy up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In related news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,900 shares of Exponent stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.39, for a total transaction of $344,911.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 83,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,872,567.31. This trade represents a 5.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 9,788 shares of company stock worth $693,648 in the last 90 days. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXPO. United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in shares of Exponent in the first quarter valued at about $270,000. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in Exponent by 1,481.0% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 127,222 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,313,000 after purchasing an additional 119,175 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in shares of Exponent during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $167,000. Fenimore Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Exponent by 0.3% during the second quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 191,483 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,306,000 after purchasing an additional 588 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its position in shares of Exponent by 4.0% in the second quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 18,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,367,000 after buying an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

About Exponent

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.