Bank of America Corp DE Acquires New Position in Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Key Points

• Bank of America acquired 498,130 Exponent shares during the second quarter, valued at approximately $29.3 million and representing about 1.05% of the company. Institutional investors collectively own 92.37% of Exponent.
• Exponent exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.60 in earnings per share versus the $0.55 consensus and revenue of $171.61 million, up 12% year over year.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $81, while Exponent pays a quarterly dividend of $0.31 per share, equivalent to a 1.9% yield.

Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 498,130 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $29,270,000. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 1.05% of Exponent as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake 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 worth $2,389,000 after acquiring an additional 19,528 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP increased its holdings in shares of Exponent by 73.8% in the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 652,109 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $45,295,000 after acquiring an additional 276,889 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in Exponent by 785.8% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 24,775 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,721,000 after acquiring an additional 21,978 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Exponent by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 918,885 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $59,958,000 after acquiring an additional 20,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Exponent in the first quarter valued at $5,742,000. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company's stock.

Exponent Price Performance

Shares of Exponent stock opened at $66.22 on Wednesday. Exponent, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.91 and a fifty-two week high of $81.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.70 and a beta of 0.68. The company's 50 day moving average price is $67.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.14.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $171.61 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $144.99 million. Exponent had a return on equity of 31.48% and a net margin of 17.67%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Exponent, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Exponent Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Exponent news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 1,707 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.28, for a total value of $113,139.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,557,278.24. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on EXPO shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Exponent in a report on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Exponent and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.00.

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.

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