43,764 Shares in Exponent, Inc. $EXPO Bought by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 43,764 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,572,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Bell Investment Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of Exponent by 423.6% in the 1st quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 377 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Exponent during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Exponent by 86.1% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 469 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Exponent by 37.1% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 717 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Exponent by 54.8% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 904 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on EXPO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Exponent from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group set a $72.00 price objective on Exponent and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a report on Friday, July 17th. Two equities 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

Exponent Trading Down 0.4%

EXPO stock opened at $70.03 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a PE ratio of 31.40 and a beta of 0.68. Exponent, Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.91 and a 12 month high of $81.95. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $65.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.41.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $171.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.99 million. Exponent had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 31.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Exponent, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Exponent Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In other news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 1,707 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 129,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,557,278.24. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Company 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.