Royce & Associates LP Purchases 276,889 Shares of Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in Exponent by 73.8% in the fourth quarter, buying 276,889 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 652,109 shares worth about $45.3 million.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but still constructive: Exponent has a Moderate Buy consensus rating with a $77.50 target price, though UBS and JPMorgan recently cut their price targets.
• The company reported better-than-expected Q1 results, with EPS of $0.59 and revenue of $166.3 million, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.31 per share.

Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO - Free Report) by 73.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 652,109 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 276,889 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned 1.31% of Exponent worth $45,295,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Exponent by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,392,499 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $166,183,000 after purchasing an additional 31,303 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Exponent by 0.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 733,354 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $50,953,000 after purchasing an additional 4,695 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Exponent by 15.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 645,726 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $48,242,000 after purchasing an additional 88,350 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Exponent by 135.8% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 580,134 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $40,308,000 after buying an additional 334,154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Exponent by 2.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 566,438 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $39,356,000 after buying an additional 11,705 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EXPO. UBS Group reduced their price target on Exponent from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Exponent in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Exponent from $95.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $77.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In other Exponent news, VP Joseph Sala sold 2,066 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.66, for a total value of $117,059.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,194 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.06, for a total value of $226,727.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 105,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,688,085.08. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,026 shares of company stock valued at $1,033,421. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Exponent Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXPO opened at $57.77 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.87 and a beta of 0.78. Exponent, Inc. has a 1 year low of $51.91 and a 1 year high of $81.95. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $64.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.27.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $166.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $149.53 million. Exponent had a return on equity of 27.94% and a net margin of 18.07%.The company's revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Exponent, Inc. will post 2.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Exponent's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.67%.

Exponent Profile

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.

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