Quantinno Capital Management LP Buys 19,528 Shares of Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its position in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 114.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 36,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,528 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in Exponent were worth $2,389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealth Alliance LLC raised its holdings in Exponent by 10.2% in the first quarter. Wealth Alliance LLC now owns 4,916 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exponent in the 1st quarter valued at $5,742,000. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in shares of Exponent in the 1st quarter valued at $218,000. Gibbs Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Exponent by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Gibbs Wealth Management now owns 6,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $393,000 after buying an additional 965 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Exponent by 15.5% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 226,271 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,766,000 after buying an additional 30,449 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 106,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,094,057.10. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Joseph Sala sold 2,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.66, for a total value of $117,059.56. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 15,324 shares of company stock worth $855,019. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of EXPO opened at $67.52 on Tuesday. Exponent, Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.91 and a 12 month high of $81.95. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.28 and a beta of 0.68.

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

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Exponent’s payout ratio is currently 55.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Exponent from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group set a $72.00 price objective on Exponent and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.00.

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.