Shukri Jeries Souri Acquires 184 Shares of Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) Stock

Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) VP Shukri Jeries Souri acquired 184 shares of Exponent stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $68.45 per share, with a total value of $12,594.80. Following the purchase, the vice president directly owned 40,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,797,756.85. This trade represents a 0.45% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Exponent Price Performance

Shares of EXPO stock traded down $1.18 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $65.94. The company had a trading volume of 121,574 shares, compared to its average volume of 507,759. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.18. The company has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.55 and a beta of 0.68. Exponent, Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.91 and a 12 month high of $81.95.

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

Exponent Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Exponent’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exponent

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bell Investment Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Exponent by 423.6% in the 1st quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 377 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Exponent during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Exponent in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Exponent by 86.1% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 469 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Exponent by 37.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 717 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Company Profile

Exponent, Inc is a multidisciplinary engineering and scientific consulting company that helps clients investigate complex technical issues, manage risk and improve the safety, performance and reliability of products, systems and operations. Its work commonly involves failure analysis, accident reconstruction, product liability, materials and structures, biomechanics, environmental sciences and health, and human factors.

The company provides consulting, testing, research and expert-witness services to businesses, insurers, law firms and government agencies.