Granite Investment Partners LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Exponent, Inc. $EXPO

Granite Investment Partners LLC lowered its position in Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) by 63.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,194 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 130,027 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC owned about 0.16% of Exponent worth $4,972,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXPO. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 230,072 shares during the period. Riverbridge Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Exponent by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC now owns 554,193 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,494,000 after acquiring an additional 71,178 shares during the period. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Exponent by 29.7% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 176,404 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,253,000 after acquiring an additional 40,359 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Exponent by 135.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 580,134 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,308,000 after purchasing an additional 334,154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Exponent by 69.4% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 62,350 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,331,000 after purchasing an additional 25,537 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Exponent Price Performance

NASDAQ EXPO opened at $60.95 on Thursday. Exponent, Inc. has a 1-year low of $51.91 and a 1-year high of $81.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.35 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.28.

Exponent (NASDAQ:EXPO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.03. The company 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%.Exponent’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Exponent, Inc. will post 2.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Exponent Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Exponent’s payout ratio is 57.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exponent

In related news, CEO Catherine Corrigan sold 4,119 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total value of $235,318.47. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 106,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,094,057.10. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Bradley A. James sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.47, for a total transaction of $114,940.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 1,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,504.35. This trade represents a 64.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 19,233 shares of company stock valued at $1,119,659 over the last 90 days. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Exponent in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Exponent from $95.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Exponent in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two investment 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.50.

About Exponent

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.