Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) Shares Cross Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Exponent shares crossed above their 200-day moving average, reaching $70.21 and last trading at $69.19 versus the $64.36 average.
• Analysts hold a generally positive view, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $81; JPMorgan recently raised its target to $90.
• Exponent reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, including $0.60 EPS and $171.61 million in revenue, up 12% year over year, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.31 per share.

Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO - Get Free Report)'s share price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $64.36 and traded as high as $70.21. Exponent shares last traded at $69.19, with a volume of 476,194 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Exponent Price Performance

The stock's 50-day moving average price is $66.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.36. The company has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.03 and a beta of 0.68.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Exponent had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 31.48%. The business had revenue of $171.61 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $144.99 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. The business's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Exponent, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Exponent's payout ratio is presently 55.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 1,707 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Exponent

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXPO. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in Exponent by 87,479.8% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 230,335 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $15,999,000 after purchasing an additional 230,072 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in Exponent by 114.3% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 36,614 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,389,000 after buying an additional 19,528 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 21,978 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP increased its holdings in Exponent by 73.8% in the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 652,109 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $45,295,000 after buying an additional 276,889 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Exponent by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 918,885 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $59,958,000 after buying an additional 20,270 shares during the period. 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.

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