Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Buys Shares of 19,136 Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 19,136 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,124,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EXPO. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in shares of Exponent during the first quarter worth $270,000. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its position in Exponent by 1,481.0% during the first 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 last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Exponent by 3.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 554,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,444,000 after purchasing an additional 17,930 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new position in Exponent in the 2nd quarter worth about $18,377,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Exponent by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 6,623 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Exponent

In related news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,119 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total value of $235,318.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 106,670 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,094,057.10. The trade was a 3.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Bradley A. James sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.47, for a total value of $114,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 1,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,504.35. This trade represents a 64.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Exponent Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXPO opened at $67.10 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 30.09 and a beta of 0.68. Exponent, Inc. has a 1 year low of $51.91 and a 1 year high of $81.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.69.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $144.99 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Exponent, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio is 55.61%.

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.