14,310 Shares in Exponent, Inc. $EXPO Acquired by Vest Financial LLC

Key Points

• Vest Financial LLC acquired 14,310 shares of Exponent, Inc. valued at approximately $1,069,000 in the second quarter, indicating growing interest from institutional investors.
• Exponent reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.52, exceeding analysts' estimates, while its revenue increased by 7.3% year-over-year to $132.87 million.
• The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.8%.

Vest Financial LLC acquired a new position in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 14,310 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,069,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Exponent by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,791,747 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $388,419,000 after acquiring an additional 55,190 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Exponent by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,745,828 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $141,517,000 after acquiring an additional 176,152 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Exponent by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 506,784 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $41,250,000 after acquiring an additional 74,605 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Exponent by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 441,646 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $35,800,000 after purchasing an additional 8,501 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Exponent by 543.1% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 305,230 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $24,742,000 after purchasing an additional 257,766 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Exponent in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Exponent has a consensus rating of "Hold".

Exponent Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:EXPO opened at $67.23 on Thursday. Exponent, Inc. has a 12 month low of $63.81 and a 12 month high of $115.75. The company has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of 33.62 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.99.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.04. Exponent had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 24.19%. The firm had revenue of $132.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $130.82 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Exponent's payout ratio is presently 60.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,905 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.91, for a total transaction of $342,908.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 82,753 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,785,262.23. The trade was a 5.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Joseph Sala sold 1,595 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.64, for a total transaction of $112,670.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 11,396 shares of company stock valued at $803,636. Insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Exponent Profile

Exponent, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a science and engineering consulting company in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Engineering and Other Scientific, and Environmental and Health. The Engineering and Other Scientific segment provides services in the areas of biomechanics, biomedical engineering and sciences, buildings and structures, civil engineering, construction consulting, data sciences, electrical engineering and computer science, human factors, materials and corrosion engineering, mechanical engineering, polymer science and materials chemistry, thermal sciences, and vehicle engineering.

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