Catherine Corrigan Sells 1,707 Shares of Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) Stock

Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 1,707 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.28, for a total transaction of $113,139.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,557,278.24. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Catherine Corrigan also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, June 15th, Catherine Corrigan sold 4,119 shares of Exponent stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $235,318.47.

Exponent Stock Up 3.6%

EXPO stock opened at $69.91 on Thursday. Exponent, Inc. has a twelve month low of $51.91 and a twelve month high of $81.95. The company has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a PE ratio of 31.35 and a beta of 0.68. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.58.

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

Exponent Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exponent

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EXPO. Bell Investment Advisors Inc boosted its stake in Exponent by 423.6% in the first quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Exponent during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Exponent by 86.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 469 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Exponent in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Exponent by 37.1% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 717 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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