Capstone Investment Advisors LLC Invests $3.06 Million in Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 52,159 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,065,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC owned about 0.11% of Exponent as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Exponent by 87,479.8% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 230,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,999,000 after purchasing an additional 230,072 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC grew its stake in Exponent by 69.4% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 62,350 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,331,000 after purchasing an additional 25,537 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its stake in Exponent by 29.7% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 176,404 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,253,000 after purchasing an additional 40,359 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Exponent by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,392,499 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $166,183,000 after purchasing an additional 31,303 shares during the period. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in Exponent by 114.3% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 36,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,389,000 after purchasing an additional 19,528 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Exponent Trading Up 1.2%

EXPO opened at $71.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.91 and a beta of 0.68. Exponent, Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.91 and a 12 month high of $81.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $64.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.48.

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

Exponent Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders 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 1.7%. Exponent’s payout ratio is presently 55.61%.

Insider Activity at Exponent

In related news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,119 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $235,318.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 106,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,094,057.10. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.