Axiom Investors LLC DE Sells 58,234 Shares of Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Key Points

• Axiom Investors LLC DE reduced its stake in Exponent, Inc. by 49.1% during Q1, owning approximately 60,333 shares worth about $4.89 million as of the latest filing.
• Exponent reported a quarterly EPS of $0.52, exceeding analyst expectations, with a revenue of $132.87 million, up 7.3% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30, translating to an annualized dividend of $1.20 and a yield of 1.7%.

Axiom Investors LLC DE trimmed its stake in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO - Free Report) by 49.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,333 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 58,234 shares during the quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE owned about 0.12% of Exponent worth $4,891,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Exponent by 2.0% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 441,646 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $35,800,000 after buying an additional 8,501 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Exponent during the first quarter worth $547,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Exponent by 103.3% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 681 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Exponent in the first quarter valued at about $665,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Exponent by 14.4% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 6,835 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $554,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Exponent Trading Up 1.7%

NASDAQ EXPO traded up $1.25 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $72.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 666,916 shares, compared to its average volume of 447,439. Exponent, Inc. has a 1-year low of $63.81 and a 1-year high of $115.75. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $72.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a PE ratio of 36.49 and a beta of 0.89.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $132.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $130.82 million. Exponent had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 24.19%. Exponent's revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Exponent, Inc. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Exponent's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Exponent news, VP Joseph Sala sold 1,595 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.64, for a total transaction of $112,670.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,896 shares of Exponent stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.09, for a total value of $348,056.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 81,342 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,782,602.78. The trade was a 5.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

About Exponent

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.