Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) Shares Gap Up After Earnings Beat

Shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) gapped up prior to trading on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $89.82, but opened at $95.00. Exponent shares last traded at $88.29, with a volume of 145,610 shares traded.

The business services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.06. Exponent had a net margin of 19.52% and a return on equity of 27.73%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share.

Exponent Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This is a boost from Exponent’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. Exponent’s payout ratio is presently 54.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Exponent news, Director Paul R. Johnston sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.83, for a total transaction of $726,810.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 80,742 shares in the company, valued at $8,383,441.86. This represents a 7.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,300 shares of company stock valued at $1,538,589. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Exponent

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Exponent during the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,131,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Exponent by 63.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 630,644 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $72,701,000 after acquiring an additional 245,086 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Exponent in the third quarter valued at approximately $11,261,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Exponent by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,505,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $173,597,000 after buying an additional 69,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Exponent by 219.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 96,526 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,127,000 after purchasing an additional 66,263 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Trading Down 1.8 %

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $92.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a PE ratio of 42.60 and a beta of 0.71.

Exponent Company 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.