Washington Trust Bank Acquires Shares of 9,608 Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Washington Trust Bank acquired a new stake in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 9,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $667,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in Exponent in the 4th quarter valued at $337,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Exponent by 134.7% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,158 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $914,000 after purchasing an additional 7,551 shares during the period. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Exponent in the 4th quarter valued at $250,000. Fenimore Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Exponent by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 266,892 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,538,000 after purchasing an additional 40,417 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in Exponent in the 4th quarter valued at $207,000. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EXPO. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Exponent from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Exponent from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.00.

Exponent Stock Performance

EXPO stock opened at $60.16 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.98 and a beta of 0.78. Exponent, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $59.59 and a fifty-two week high of $81.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $67.20 and a 200-day moving average of $70.15.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $166.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $149.53 million. Exponent had a return on equity of 27.94% and a net margin of 18.07%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Exponent, Inc. will post 2.28 EPS for the current year.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In other news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 3,920 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.15, for a total transaction of $263,228.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 93,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,294,036.65. This represents a 4.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,741 shares of company stock worth $791,888. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.