Exponent, Inc. $EXPO Stock Holdings Increased by Rhumbline Advisers

Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 190,141 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,250 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Exponent were worth $14,205,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vest Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Exponent during the second quarter valued at about $1,069,000. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Exponent during the first quarter valued at approximately $547,000. Martin Currie Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Exponent in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $450,000. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in Exponent by 125.6% in the 1st quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 68,198 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,528,000 after purchasing an additional 37,975 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Exponent in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $330,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Stock Down 0.4%

EXPO stock opened at $72.30 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $69.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.01. The company has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.15 and a beta of 0.91. Exponent, Inc. has a 12-month low of $63.81 and a 12-month high of $99.72.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Exponent had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 24.19%. The business had revenue of $147.12 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.78 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. Exponent’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 EPS for the current year.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

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

Exponent declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. William Blair raised shares of Exponent from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In other news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,900 shares of Exponent stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $5,872,567.31. The trade was a 5.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 14,735 shares of company stock worth $1,017,242. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.